Descendants and Dragons
by EverAfterWritings
Summary: Sequel to "How to Say Goodbye." After a ship arrives on Berk with Dagur's two children, who were supposedly dead, and the long lost firstborn son of Hiccup and Astrid, the Hooligans and Berserkers must figure out how to react. When an old threat returns to Berk, the only way it can be defeated is through teamwork and maybe some help from old friends. Rated T
1. Breakable Child Summary

The Breakable Child Summary

**I do not shame you for not reading The Breakable Child! It has some very graphic sexual content, so I am glad you decided to go ahead and skip it if it is not the kind of thing you like to read.**

**However, if you are here and did not know there is a little one-shot as a kind of prequel/background to this story, go ahead and go read it, if you'd like. **

**This is the third story in my trilogy. The first is "How to Say Goodbye" and the second is "Once a Berserker, Always a Berserker." If you haven't read those, go check them out!**

**So, here I am to give you the jist of what happened in The Breakable Child.**

Hiccup, Astrid, and the other Dragon Riders are living on the Edge with their dragons and are still battling Viggo.

One day Astrid goes to Hiccup's hut and is extremely upset. When asked what is wrong, she tells Hiccup that her parents signed a marriage contract to some man from another island.

Hiccup tried to figure out how the contract was legal because Stoick would never sign it, but Astrid explained that it only needed one chief's signature. Her parents were also offered a nice dowry, which is why they decided to go ahead and sign it instead of waiting for Hiccup.

Hiccup and Astrid leave The Edge and go to Berk to get the mess sorted out. There they meet Stoick, Gobber, and Astrid's parents, Ansorf and Eshmelda.

They also find out that the man who Astrid was going to marry (in only a week) was none other than Viggo. He was trying to get at Hiccup and had lied about who he was and had also made sure the contract was signed before Astrid met him.

Hiccup and Astrid are distraught when they find out the contract is completely valid, until Gobber tells them about something that could break the contract - a Breakable Child.

Gobber explains that if the woman in the contract were to become pregnant by another man, the man in the contract would be able to decide if he still wished to marry the woman. Either way, a new contract would have to be written up to include the child. That means Astrid's parents could refuse to sign the contract.

The only risk there was that Hiccup was the future chief of Berk and was expected not to be intimate with any woman except his intended wife, so if it didn't work, he would lose the respect of the village.

Hiccup and Astrid decided that the benefits outweighed the risks and began trying for a Breakable Child.

It didn't work at first, the young couple started to think maybe they couldn't have a child together. The wedding started getting closer and closer until it was only a few days away. Viggo arrived on Berk, but Astrid refused to stay with him like he asked. She instead stayed with Hiccup and the day before the wedding they find out she is finally pregnant, much to Viggo's dismay.

The marriage contract is rendered void and Viggo vows that he will return for the child.

Months later, the Dragon Riders are throwing an annual party on The Edge. All their allies are there including Heather and Dagur, Mala and Throk, Atali, Minden and Nadia, and Stoick and Gobber.

During the party, Astrid goes into labor and Atali helps to deliver the baby. While this is going on, Viggo makes an appearance with his ships and the other Dragon Riders and their allies use their skills and their dragons to try to fight off the ships.

After many long hours, Astrid and Hiccup's child is born. It's a little boy whom they name Brandt Stoick Haddock. Hiccup and Astrid realize that their son would never be safe with them as long as Viggo was there, so after many tears, they allow Atali to take the baby to a family she knows. She promises that the family will love Brandt as their own and that he will be taught all about who his real parents are and about Berk. Hiccup sends a Deadly Nadder named StarBlaze to help protect his son.

When Viggo finds out that the baby is gone, he and his ships leave The Edge and Hiccup and Astrid are left to wait for their son's return.

That was all nearly twenty-five years ago. Now Hiccup and Astrid have three more kids and are living with their friends on Berk, home of the Hooligan Berserker Tribe.

One day a ship sails into their waters with four passengers. Two are Dagur's children, whom he thought were dead. One is the son of Marina, Dagur's daughter. And one of the passengers is Brandt, the long lost son of Hiccup and Astrid.


	2. Son and Brother

Son and Brother

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

"Uh, kids, t-this is Brandt," Hiccup said, his voice shaky, "Your brother."

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I have a brother? How? I felt a hand on my shoulder and I glanced over to see Ragnhild. She was looking at the new viking curiously. I moved my hand to cover hers on my shoulder and she smiled up at me.

It would have been a really sweet moment, but all I could think of was this new Brandt guy.

"He's our what?" Zephyr asked firmly.

"Your older brother," my dad said quietly. My eyes followed his movements as he stepped forward to see his son better.

My mom had regained her composure and was standing on her own. Her eyes were distant, though, as if she were thinking about something she had tried to forget.

Zephyr shifted my nephew to her other hip. "Okay, well, I think the Haddock, Ingerman, and Dagur families have a lot to explain here, so why don't we all go to the Great Hall for dinner?" she suggested.

My parents nodded silently.

We all walked together. When we were almost there Ragnhild pulled me to the back of the group and we let everyone else walk ahead.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Ask me again after dinner," I said.

She put her arms around my neck and hugged me. My arms tightened around her and I buried my head against her neck.

"If you need to go outside for some air during any of this, I'll be right there with you," she promised.

"Thanks, Raggy," I muttered.

She giggled. "You haven't called me that since we were kids!" she said.

"I know. I still think it's cute," I commented, leaving a kiss on her cheek. She smiled and grabbed my hand.

"Let's go, chief," she said.

"I don't know about that anymore," I said.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, no. This guy is not going to come here and steal your right to being chief. I don't care if he is Hiccup's firstborn son, you are the future chief of the Hooligan Berserker tribe. If he thinks he can just come in here and take that from you, his butt is going to get kicked," she said firmly.

I smiled at her. "I love you," I told her as we walked to catch up to the others.

"Love you too!" she said cheerfully.

Once we had gotten to the Great Hall, Uncle Dagur announced that an emergency meeting was being called and everyone needed to leave. All the vikings grumbled as they left. My aunts and uncles stayed, however. Uncle Snotlout, Aunt Willow, Uncle Tuff, and Aunt Ruff were all there. Thankfully only a few of the Thorston children were there. Just Buffnut, Mace, the twins Bow and Arrow, and Kyckling. Fluffnut was taking care of the others. Uncle Eret, Gobber, and Grandma Valka were there as well.

"What's the emergency, mate?" Uncle Eret asked as we all sat down at the tables.

Nobody answered him.

"Okay, I want to know who this guy is, if he is really my brother, and how this all happened!" Eira demanded. She huffed as she sat down next to Buffnut.

"Okay. All of our Dragon Rider friends will remember when Astrid almost got married to Viggo," my dad started, "but for those of you here who don't know this story, I'll start at the beginning."

I leaned forward expectantly.

"When we Hiccup and I were only seventeen, my parents signed a marriage contract for me to marry the leader of the dragon hunters, Viggo. In their defense, they didn't know who he was and he offered them a large dowry," my mom started.

"Yes, but still, I had made my intentions very clear. They shouldn't have signed anything," my dad added.

"Anyway," my mother continued, "the only way to get out of the contract was if I were to get pregnant with another man's child. So Hiccup and I decided to go ahead and try that, even though there were risks. I did end up getting pregnant and the marriage contract to Viggo was destroyed."

"But he still vowed he would come for our baby," my dad looked over to Brandt, "so we had to send him away once he was born. He wouldn't have been safe with us, not as long as Viggo was out there."

"Why didn't you come back for me once Viggo was gone?" Brandt asked, his voice bitter.

"We really wanted to. But it was years later, then after Viggo, Drago attacked, then just a year later was Grimmel. By then you were five. We lost contact with the Wingmaidens when the dragons left and we couldn't ask Atali where she took you. We tried so hard to find you, but Atali had been right when she said she would take you to a place where you would never be found," my mother explained.

"We know, that's not a good excuse. And eventually we had Zephyr, then Nuffink and Eira. Our lives didn't allow for travel. You have no idea how long we have prayed to the gods that you would come find us," my dad said, reaching out to rest his hands on Brandt's shoulder. Brandt shrugged it off.

"Brandt, we are so sorry," Astrid said softly, tears in her eyes once more.

"I had a good family and I lived with them thousands of miles from here in a new land where a people called the Eskimos live. My family loved me, told me stories of my amazing parents who would come for me someday. Then the months turned into years, and the years turned into over two decades. My adoptive parents were older when I got to them and when I turned eighteen they got sick and never recovered. Once they were gone, I gave up believing you would come back for me. Then these two came to town a couple of years later looking for Dagur the Deranged," Brandt nodded towards Ozzy and Marina, "I told them I had a ship. I promised to help them find their father if they helped me find my parents. We have been searching for six years now."

"Six years?" Uncle Dagur asked.

"Wait, how old are you guys?" Buffnut asked.

"Buff, is that really a pressing question?" I asked.

"It's fine. I am twenty-eight and Marina is twenty-four now," Brandt said.

"I'm twenty-six," Ozzy commented.

"See, that makes everything more interesting," Buffnut said.

I shook my head at him.

"Anyway, as I was saying, it took a while for us to get over here. Like Brandt said, we were thousands of miles away and we didn't even know what island you lived on," Marina said. Arlo started crying and she quietly excused herself so she could nurse him.

"So you married my daughter?" Dagur asked Brandt. He was trying to intimidate the man.

"Yes, I did," Brandt said simply. He obviously wasn't intimidated at all.

Uncle Dagur glared at him and sat back in his chair.

"Ozzy, how did you two escape?" Aunt Heather asked.

"Well, it's a long story," Ozzy said quietly.

"We have time," I said.

Ozzy looked up at me. He took a deep breath. "Okay then. It was twenty-three years ago. I was only three, but I remember. Marina was only two. All I remember is the smoke and the flames. Our Eruptadon, the Great Protector, left with the other dragons. My mom… she took my sister and I to a boat where Throk was waiting for us. He took us away. The last time I saw my mother, she was running into the smoke and the flames. She hugged me and Marina before she left and told us she loved us, then she was gone. I don't remember much of the next few years. I think the only story that is helpful right now is how we met Brandt."

"I want to hear everything," Uncle Dagur said.

Ozzy smiled at him. "Trust me, 'Rina and I have years of things to tell you, but I think with everyone that is here… And I don't even know any of you guys…" Ozzy glanced around the table nervously.

"What did I miss?" Marina asked as she sat back down. Arlo was asleep in her arms.

"May I?" my mom asked softly. I think she was finally realizing that the baby was also her grandchild. It hadn't clicked with me before either. That was my nephew.

Marina smiled and gently put the baby in her arms. Mom rocked the sleeping baby and hummed to him quietly. I noticed my dad was watching her, an almost pained expression in his eyes.

"Ozzy was just about to tell how we met," Brandt said, putting his arm around his wife's shoulders.

I could tell my parents and Uncle Dagur were a little uncomfortable with the whole thing. Brandt and Marina couldn't have known their parents were so close when they got married. I mean, my dad and Ragnhild's dad are really close, and I call him Uncle Fishlegs, but with dad and Uncle Dagur… it's different. They call each other brother, they are best friends. But they didn't know, so I'll cut them a little slack.

"Oh! Can I tell?" Marina asked.

"Go ahead, sis," Ozzy said. I smiled. He talked like his father.

"Okay, so it was what, seven years ago?" Marina asked.

"Yeah, you were seventeen," Brandt agreed.

"That's right, So, it was seven years ago. Throk had just passed away. He was sick. We don't know what illness it was, but it took him fairly quickly," Marina said, her voice dropping when she mentioned Throk.

The people around the table who had known him were silent.

"But that gave my brother and I a new opportunity to look for our father. We had an excuse to leave…"

_*seven years ago - Marina's Point of View*_

"You okay?" I asked my brother. He had his hands on our ship's wheel and was staring blankly out at the ocean.

Ozzy shook his head and looked over at me. "Sorry, I was just zoned out," he said.

"It's okay. What were you thinking about?" I questioned.

"How crazy this is. I mean, we are going to look for our father. The man we haven't seen in fifteen years. I don't even remember what he looks like. I just remember his name. We don't even know if he is still alive!" my brother said. He picked up an ax and swung it over his head, letting it stick in the floor of the ship to hold the wheel in place so he could sit next to me.

"It is crazy, but I'm glad we are doing it," I said with a smiled.

Ozzy smiled at me. "Me too," he said.

I reached up to the top of the barrel I was sitting next to and got our map.

"Okay, we are about here," I pointed to a spot on the piece of paper.

"We are stopping here today. We should see it soon," Ozzy commented, pointing to a small island.

I stood up and grabbed our telescope. My hands brought the object up to my eye and I peered through it.

"There it is!" I said excitedly.

Ozzy took the telescope from me and held it to his eye as well.

"That's it," he confirmed.

I sighed in relief. We hadn't stopped at an island in a week and were getting really low on supplies.

After we docked, we went to the market.

"How about you go get the water, I'll get food?" my brother suggested.

"Perfect," I said.

I turned away towards where several men were selling barrels of freshwater.

"Hello, boys," I said in a friendly manner, "my brother and I need five barrels of water, please."

One of the men turned around to face me. He was tall and slim, but I could tell that he had some muscle under his tunic, probably from lifting barrels of water all day. But it wasn't his body that stood out to me. It was his eyes. They seemed to shine an emerald green color. They were beautiful.

"Ma'am?"

"Oh, sorry! Yes, that's a fair price. Here," I jumped back to reality and realized he had given me a price. I quickly counted out the gold pieces we had and gave them to him.

"I can help you get these to your ship if you'd like," he offered.

"Oh, would you? That would be great," I said gratefully.

He gave me a half smile. "Sure," he said shortly.

I watched as he started loading the barrels onto a yak cart.

"I'm Marina, by the way! My brother is Ozzy," I said.

"Brandt," the man said curtly.

"Nice to meet you, Brandt," I replied.

He just nodded and finished loading the barrels.

"Which one is yours?" he asked, raising his hand to gesture to all the ships.

"Oh! The small one, right there," I said. I led him to the boat.

"So, Brandt, do you just work as a water boy, or do you have another job?" I asked, trying to make polite conversation.

"Just with the water," he answered.

"Oh… My brother and I are looking for our father. Have you ever heard of a Dagur the Deranged?" I asked.

Brandt stopped to stare at me. "You're Dagur the Deranged's daughter?" he asked.

"You have heard of him! Do you know where he lives?" I asked hopefully.

"No. And I have only heard of him because he was a dragon hunter," the young viking commented.

"Sis, I'm back," Ozzy announced as he carried a basket of fruit onto the ship.

"Ozzy, this is Brandt. He has heard of father," I told him.

"Oh! Do you happen to know where he is now?" Ozzy asked.

Brandt shook his head.

"Oh, pity," Ozzy said disappointedly. I helped him carry the rest of the food crates onto the ship.

"So, you two seem like good people. I can make a deal with you," Brandt said.

I didn't know he could say so many words in one sentence.

"What kind of deal?" Ozzy asked skeptically.

"I'm looking for my parents too. I have something you don't," he said.

"And that is?" my brother asked.

"Knowledge of these islands. I have been studying maps since I was a child. It was my hobby. I can navigate through these waters with ease," Brandt said.

I glanced at my brother. We could really use a navigator.

"Okay, what do you get out of this?" Ozzy asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't have a ship. If we find your father first, I get the ship so I can find my parents," he said.

Ozzy turned around to look at me. I raised my eyebrows and shrugged my shoulders. Sounds fine to me.

Ozzy nodded and turned back to face Brandt. He held his hand out.

"You have yourself a deal," he said.

Brandt gave us that half smile of his and shook my brother's hand.

"Okay, now that that is settled, let's get some rest. We have an early morning ahead of us," I reminded them.

They nodded in silent agreement. Ozzy gave me a goodnight kiss on the cheek and we went to our separate bunks.


	3. Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

_*Hiccup's Point of View*_

I could barely look at Brandt. He looked so much like me it was crazy. But that wasn't the reason I couldn't look at him. I couldn't look at him because I felt guilty.

I should have found a way to keep him. He was so incredible, strong, decisive, intelligent…

Why did I ever let go?

Then when I saw that baby… That was a strange moment. I can't really explain it. The feeling wasn't even something I could pinpoint. It was like I had missed something.

But I guess I have missed something. I missed my son's entire first nearly thirty years of life. How could I ever make up for that?

I could start by sitting and listening to his stories.

We all talked until late into the night. Both babies were fast asleep. Even Eira, Buffnut, and the other Thorston kids had fallen asleep.

I noticed Marina yawning.

"I think we should call it a night. We can talk more in the morning," I suggested.

Everyone agreed. As we stepped outside, Ozzy, Marina, and Brandt all started walking back towards their boat.

"Where are you guys going?" Dagur asked.

"Just turning in for the night," Brandt responded.

"No, you guys can stay in real beds tonight. I have room for one," Dagur said. He stepped over to his son.

Astrid slid her hand into mine. "Yeah, you guys don't have to stay on the ship. We are family, you stay with us," she said. I nodded in silent agreement.

Brandt and Marina followed us back to our house.

"Um, your bedroom is upstairs, the second door on the left," Astrid said politely.

"Thank you," Marina said with a smile. She and Brandt walked up to the room and shut the door behind them.

"I'm going to bed, goodnight," Eira said with a yawn.

I stepped towards her and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, baby," I said. Astrid did the same. Then we went into our bedroom. As soon as the door was shut, I let out a big sigh.

"I can't believe this is happening," I said quietly.

"I know," Astrid said.

"I mean, if it was just him, that would be different. But he has Dagur's children with him. He is married to one of them! And he has a kid!" I said. It all sounded so crazy.

"I can't wrap my head around it either," Astrid said.

I took my boot and prosthetic off and laid down on the bed.

"Babe, change tunics. That one is dirty," Astrid commented, throwing a fresh tunic at me. I sighed and changed quickly.

Astrid put on her nightdress and combed out her braid before curling up next to me.

"Is this even real? It feels like a really weird dream," I whispered. My wife traced her finger around my chest.

"It's real," she said quietly.

I took a deep breath. "Astrid, I don't know how to handle this. Why did we ever let him go?"

"Because it was his best chance. Viggo was after him, remember?"

"I know, but still. He was, is, our son," I said softly.

"That's true, but I know we did the right thing. And don't you dare start putting it in my head that we had a choice. We didn't. I have struggled with this all my life. If you suggest we had a choice, which we didn't, I might die of guilt," she said.

"We didn't have a choice," I confirmed.

She nodded and laid her head against my chest.

"We missed everything," she choked.

"Twenty-eight years… Can you believe it has been nearly thirty years? We were so young…" I said incredulously.

"Another reason we couldn't keep him. We didn't know what we were doing. We just wanted to make sure I didn't end up as Viggo's wife."

"Gods, that would have been terrible," I said.

"I bet he wonders if we even loved him. We were basically forced into having him. If there had been another way, we would have waited to have kids," she reasoned.

"I hope he knows we love him. Giving him up was the hardest thing I have ever done," I commented.

"It was," Astrid agreed. We were silent for a few moments, finding comfort in each other's arms.

"It's just so hard to believe that he is old enough to be married and have a kid. The last time we saw him he wasn't even an hour old," I said in disbelief.

"I feel the same way. I guess not seeing him grow up makes it more difficult to comprehend," Astrid thought aloud.

I kissed her forehead. "We'll make it up to him," I whispered, "He has us now and we aren't going anywhere."

Astrid hummed in agreement and rolled over so her back was to me. I slid my arm across her waist and moved so I was right against her back, leaving a few kisses on her neck.

"Goodnight, babe," she whispered.

"What? How can you sleep knowing he is right down the hall?" I asked.

"Watch and you'll see how," she said curtly.

I groaned and buried my face in her hair. "Fine, goodnight," I mumbled.

We were woken up in the middle of the night by a baby's cry.

"Gods, I had forgotten what that's like," I groaned.

"They need to be fed every few hours," Astrid remembered.

I slowly sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. After putting my prosthetic on, I groaned as I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Astrid asked.

"Downstairs for a drink. You want anything?" I asked.

"No, just be quiet," she instructed.

"I won't wake them up if they get Arlo back to sleep," I said.

"No, be quiet so you don't wake me up, dork," She said groggily. I smiled as she rolled over and went back to sleep.

My steps were as quiet as a forty-five-year-old, one-legged viking could be. The kitchen was dark. With squinted eyes I searched for the lantern, feeling my way across the table. Once I had it, I took it to the fire in the main room and quietly lit it. When I stood up and turned back towards the kitchen I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Brandt!" I whispered in surprise, "Gods above, don't sneak up on me like that."

"All the stories I heard of you said you are fearless," Brandt commented, following me to the kitchen.

"Fearless, eh?" I chuckled, "Well, when it came to handling dragons, sure. But when it is just somebody sneaking up behind me, I am a bit of a wimp for a few momentary seconds."

Brandt sat down at the table.

"You want anything?" I asked.

"No," the young man said simply.

I poured myself a cup of water and took a long sip.

"Were they good to you?" I asked quietly.

"The family Atali gave me to? Yes. Better than you guys probably would have been," my son said shortly.

"I can't deny that. We were just a rag-tag team of vikings. Only six of us, plus some friends and allies every now and then, against the dragon hunters. Your mother and I loved you, but we probably wouldn't have made the best parents," I admitted.

"Don't call her that," Brandt whispered.

"What?" I questioned.

"She may have given birth to me, but she isn't my mother, nor are you my father. Not yet at least. So don't call her my mother and don't say you're my father. And don't even think about calling me son," he said. I could hear anger under the subtle tone of his voice.

"Alright. I won't," I replied calmly.

Brandt sighed. "Sorry…" he muttered.

"No, it's okay. I get it. And honestly, I'd be mad too, if I were you," I told him.

"Yeah," he said quietly, looking down at the table.

I took this short time to really get a good look at him. Astrid said it was uncanny how much he looked like me at that age, and I was starting to see it. He was built like me, had the same color hair and eyes, he even had freckles on his face like I did. Astrid claimed he had my smile and even some of my mannerisms, but I had yet to see him smile

I was looking for anything that he would have gotten from Astrid, but I hadn't found anything yet. If he lets me get to know him better, I will probably find something.

"It sounds like Marina got Arlo to go back to sleep," Brandt said. He sounded tired all of a sudden.

"Oh, yeah I guess she did," I commented.

"Before I go back up there, can I ask you something?" Brandt said quickly.

"Uh, sure," I responded.

"You mentioned dragons earlier. Are they still around?" he asked.

"Yeah. They are in the Hidden World," I answered.

"Well, since there aren't any more dragon hunters, would it be possible for them to come back?" Brandt asked. He almost sounded hopeful.

"I guess… I think they are happy where they are, though," I responded.

"Oh," Brandt said quietly.

"Trust me, I have thought about it a lot. But when Toothless left,"

"Toothless?"

"My dragon and best friend. He is the king of dragons, the alpha. When he left I told him he would always be welcome here if he ever felt it was safe enough to reintroduce the dragons to the world. And I believe that when he is ready, he will bring them all back," I reasoned.

Brandt nodded silently, seemingly thinking about everything I had just said.

"Okay, well, uh, goodnight," he said awkwardly before walking back to his room.

He definitely got that from me.

I finished my water and walked as quietly as I could back into my bedroom. After slowly lowering myself onto the bed, I began working at the buckles on my prosthetic. When the last one came undone, the prosthetic fell to the ground with a loud "thunk." I winced and glanced over to my sleeping wife.

"I told you to be quiet," she muttered, her eyes still closed.

I slid under the furs next to her and pulled her against me.

"Sorry, milady. It slipped," I whispered.

"Shut up. Go to sleep," she replied against my chest.

I kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight, milady."


	4. Fiances and Flocks

Fiances and Flocks

_*Zephyr's Point of View*_

"Babe, can you please come to bed?" Spike groaned.

By now I had been pacing back and forth for so long, I was surprised that there wasn't a hole in the floor.

"Can't sleep," I responded. I absentmindedly chewed on my fingernails.

Spikelout slowly stood up and walked over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders to stop me.

"Zeph, there's no use worrying about this tonight. Come to bed, please?" Spikelout pleaded.

A sigh escaped my lips and I looked down at my feet.

"How could they not have told us about this?" I asked.

"What?" Spike asked.

"My parents! How could they have kept this a secret? When were they going to tell me I have an older brother? Why does he show up now and not years ago? How come they didn't keep looking for him? If it was me or Nuffink or Eira, they would never have stopped looking! This whole thing doesn't make any sense," I said as I sat on the edge of the bed, my head in my hands.

My husband sat down beside me and put his arms around my shoulders, pulling me to him. I sighed and breathed in his scent. It helped me relax, being this close to him.

"I can't answer any of those questions, but at this hour, nobody can. So why don't we get some sleep before Hagen wakes up?" he suggested.

"You're right," I breathed out in defeat. As soon as I got into bed, Hagen started crying.

"Oh, it must be later than I thought. I'll go get him," Spikelout groaned as he got up and went to get our son. A few minutes later he came back into the room holding the crying baby in his arms.

"Shhh, Hagen. It's okay, son. Mama will get you fed," Spike cooed soothingly.

I sat up in bed and untied the top of my tunic, slipping it past my shoulders. My arms reached out for the baby and Spike gently handed him to me.

"Hey, baby. It's okay," I whispered as I held him to my chest. He started drinking eagerly.

"Man, he really was hungry," Spike chuckled.

"You'd think he wasn't fed just a few hours ago," I muttered.

My husband laid back down in the bed next to me and yawned. "How much longer until he sleeps through the night?" he asked, his eyes half open.

"Not too long… I hope," I replied.

"Let's pray to Freya it's just a little bit longer and not like months," he said through another yawn.

I hummed in agreement. After a few more minutes, Hagen was asleep again.

I sighed and laid him down between me and Spike. Spike reached over and brushed his thumb on Hagen's cheek.

"Sometimes I think he looks like him," I muttered.

Spike reached over to me and held my hand in his. "Well, he is technically the father, even though the rest of the village thinks it's me," he whispered.

"But what happens when he is older and he looks more like him? People will start talking," I replied.

"We won't let them. We can just say it is a coincidence," Spikelout said.

"But they will all know. They don't even know why we have him on probation as the stable boy. People are starting to think he has been charged unjustly, simply because we can't tell them what he did," I said.

"You're father has taken care of that. He is the chief. He won't let anything happen that could jeopardize our family. And Eret Jr. knows he has no rights to the child. He gave them up, remember?" Spike said as he reached out to rest his hand against the side of my face.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"Can we go to sleep now, before he wakes up like a hungry monster again?" Spike pleaded.

I giggled. "Okay, good night, babe," I whispered.

Spikelout leaned across the bed and kissed my forehead. "Goodnight, beautiful."

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

I woke up in the morning extremely tired. Knowing that my brother was just a few doors down from me was a good way to keep me up. I just wanted to know how my parents could keep this from me.

My mouth opened wide in a yawn and I stretched my arms. The sun shone through my window and I got up to look out it. The town looked so small from here. We lived a little off from the town, on top of a hill. Only a little over a five-minute walk to the chief's office, but far enough away for some peace and quiet when we were home. I caught a glimpse of blue out of the corner of my eye and I looked over at the path in front of our house. A smile turned my lips up when I saw my beautiful fiance. She was wearing her blue dress, the one I loved.

After a few moments of admiring her and wondering how I got so lucky, I jumped up and got dressed before running downstairs.

"Nuffink! Your hair is a mess and your belt is crooked! Where are you going?" my mom called as I ran for the door.

"Ragnhild can fix it!" I called back as I left the house and ran to catch up to the woman I loved.

I passed by my dad and Brandt as I ran. They were out by the barn where we kept our yaks and a few chickens and sheep.

"Nuffink, where are you going in such a hurry?" My dad asked, his hands cupped around his mouth so he could be loud enough for me to hear him. He must have looked ahead down the path because I heard him laugh.

I caught up to Ragnhild and practically slammed into her, my arms wrapping around her from behind.

"Oh my gods, Nuffink! You almost knocked me over," Ragnhild scolded as she turned to face me.

"But I didn't," I said.

"Gods above you are a sight," she muttered as she reached up to comb her fingers through my hair.

"Well, I didn't have much time to get dressed because somebody walked by without stopping to say hi!" I complained.

She shook her head. "But you knew what path I was on. You could have at least made sure your tunic and belt weren't lopsided," she chided as she repositioned my belt and straightened my tunic on my shoulders.

"Then I wouldn't be able to stand here and watch my beautiful fiance as she fixed me up," I teased.

She hit my chest playfully. "You're bad, Nuffink," she scoffed.

I didn't respond. I just leaned in and kissed her. My mind explodes every time I feel her lips on mine. Kissing her was my favorite thing to do.

Ragnhild pulled away and turned to start walking back towards town.

"Oh, come on, Raggy. What's the big hurry?" I asked, reaching for her arm and pulling her into another kiss.

"I have to get some fish for dinner," she said.

"Well it is still morning, you can take an hour or two… or three to spend time with your fiance, who, might I add, really loves you," I said hopefully.

Her eyes looked up and she twisted her mouth to make it look like she was thinking about it. She tilted her head to the side. "Well… I guess I could spend maybe an hour with my needy fiance…" she teased.

"Needy? Who says I am needy?" I asked, feigned offense in my voice.

"I say you are needy," she laughed. She slid her hand into mine.

I shook my head and kissed her again.

"Gods above, get out of here!" my dad shouted.

Ragnhild and I laughed and waved back to him before I pulled her off the path and out towards the cliff - our place.

When we got to the big rock we liked to sit on, Ragnhild put her basket down and climbed up on top of the large flat rock.

"You know, I asked my dad what this rock was. You know what he said?" I asked as I laid back on it.

"What?" Ragnhild asked, laying down beside me.

"He said it is an old dragon bed. Apparently, dragons like this type of rock because they can warm it up easily," I explained.

"Interesting," Ragnhild replied.

I hummed contentedly, my arm snaking around my fiance's waist, rolling her over towards me.

"You are one of the most touchy people I know," she whispered.

"Touchy? Like sensitive?" I asked.

"No, touchy like you love physical contact of any kind," she answered.

"Oh… Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked.

"Neither. It is just you. And I love you and everything you do, so I love that you are touchy," she giggled.

I smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

She sat up and looked out over the ocean. I sat up and moved closer to her. I guess she was right, I do like any kind of physical contact, even if it is just our shoulders brushing against each other every time we took a breath.

Her dark hair was pulled up in a tight bun on the back of her head. I watched to make sure she didn't notice as I lifted my hand to it and took it down quickly.

"Nuffink!" she squealed. I smiled at her.

"Do you realize how long it takes me to get my hair like that in the morning?" she complained, reaching for the soft blue hair ribbon that had been holding her dark locks in place. I smiled when I recognized the ribbon as what I had gotten her for her birthday.

"No, leave it down. At least until we go into town. Please? It's so pretty," I pleaded.

She sighed and looked back towards the ocean, "You look like a puppy when you beg like that," she muttered.

I didn't quite hear her. The wind was blowing her long hair softly and it was mesmerizing.

"Gods, you are such a man," she whispered.

"Well, I mean, I am a man, so that's a good thing, right?" I muttered.

"It just means I have more ways to distract you," she giggled.

"Why don't you wear your hair down more often?" I asked.

"You're still on my hair?" she asked.

"Uh huh…" I muttered.

"Well, if you recall, it is improper for an unmarried woman to wear her hair down," Ragnhild reminded me.

"You won't be unmarried for too much longer," I reminded her with a smile.

"We still have like two months, babe," she said.

I handed the ribbon back to her. "True," I whispered.

"We should probably head into town," she reasoned as she pulled her hair back up.

I sighed and looked out over the ocean. I squinted my eyes when I noticed what looked like a huge flock of birds flying towards us.

"Raggy, do you see that?" I asked, pointing towards the flock.

"Yeah, that's weird. I thought all the birds had already flown south," she said.

The flock got closer and I realized these were much bigger than birds. I jumped to my feet.

"Oh my gods," I muttered.

"Nuffink…" Ragnhild said, grabbing my hand.

"We have to get my dad," I said quickly.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

I looked over at her and grabbed her hand. I quickly pulled her to start running with me.

"Dad!" I yelled as we got closer to the house.

I saw my dad run out from the barn, Brandt close behind him.

He looked up in the sky behind me and smiled from ear to ear.

"Astrid!" he shouted excitedly. My mother ran from the house and laughed excitedly.

"Okay, Nuffink, you have to tell me what's going on!" Ragnhild pulled me to a stop.

Just then several of the beautiful creatures flew overhead and Ragnhild's eyes widened.

"It's the dragons," I said with excitement.


	5. New Friends and Old Friends

New Friends and Old Friends

_*Hiccup's Point of View*_

"Dad!"

My head jerked up at the sound of my son's voice. Thinking something bad had happened, I ran out of the barn as quickly as I could. But when I got outside, Nuffink and Ragnhild looked uninjured. Then I saw the dark mass in the sky. It looked like a flock of birds, but I knew better.

I laughed and jumped at the sight.

"Astrid! Astrid get out here!" I yelled, running towards the house.

"Hiccup, what in Thor's name?" she said as she came out the door. Then she saw the sky and she became just as excited as I was.

The dragons flew overhead, going towards the large clearing by the waterfall in the island. My eyes never left the pack as they flew above me. There were Nadders, Nightmares, Terrors, Changwings, Hobblegrunts, Snifflehunches, you name it! They were all there. I heard a familiar growl and I ran to the yard.

"Toothless!" I shouted as the black as night dragon landed. The Light Fury was standing behind him. He growled happily and ran towards me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted his front legs up to hug me. He really was the smartest of the dragons.

"Oh, girl I missed you!" Astrid said as she ran to hug Stormfly.

By now everyone was outside, even Zephyr and Spike were outside next door.

I smiled as my kids were reunited with the Night Lights.

Dusk bounded over to my youngest, who was jumping around much like her dragon friend.

Dawn raced to my son and his fiance, rubbing her head against them affectionately.

Eclipse shyly approached Zephyr, who knelt in front of the dragon and let the magnificent creature sniff at the baby in her arms. Even Spikelout's Dramillion, Hyperion, had returned and was saying hello to his owner.

I focused my attention back on Toothless.

"What are you guys doing here, bud? Don't you need to be in the Hidden World?" I asked.

Toothless pushed against me with his head.

"Okay, okay! I know you wouldn't bring them here unless it was safe," I laughed, scratching my dragon's nose.

"Dad, what are they doing back?" Nuffink asked when Dawn had finally let him escape.

"I don't know, son. But I know they wouldn't be here unless they felt like it was okay for them to leave the Hidden World," I reasoned.

I glanced back at my other son. He was looking at the dragons in amazement.

"Do you see Starblaze?" I asked.

Brandt's head jerked up. "Who?" he asked.

"Your dragon? The one I sent with you when you were a baby?" I questioned.

"Oh, Blaze… He, uh, he died about a year before the dragons left," he explained.

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. How did it happen?" I asked.

"Oh, he was just old," Brandt said.

I frowned. StarBlaze was younger than Stormfly. He shouldn't have died of old age so quickly. Nadders can live a very long time.

I decided to ignore the comment. I heard a thump behind me and chuckled when I turned around and saw my mother dismounting CloudJumper.

"Hey, mom!" I said.

"Hello, dear. Do you know what's going on?" she asked.

"Not a clue. But Toothless doesn't seem too worried. Isn't that right bud? Not worried a bit!" I said, turning towards my dragon.

"I'm glad they are back too, son. But why are they back?" Valka questioned.

"Did you just think it was time to come on back, bud?" I asked.

Toothless purred and nudged my arm.

"That's why," I said to my mom.

"Bye, dad!" Eira shouted as she flew off on Dusk's back.

"Be back in time for dinner!" I shouted. I know she heard me. Whether she would actually be back for dinner or not… that I did not know.

"Where is she off too?" Nuffink asked as he walked over to say hi to Toothless.

"If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say to go see that Thorston kid," I said curtly.

"That Thorston kid has a name, babe. And if things keep going the way they are going with those two, he might be your son-in-law someday," Astrid said.

"Now why would you go and say that?" I groaned.

Astrid chuckled and kissed my cheek. "Wanna go somewhere?" she whispered.

"I'm listening," I whispered back.

"Maybe to that hidden beach we found?" she suggested, her voice still soft and quiet.

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, let's go," I said enthusiastically.

"Go where?" Brandt asked.

"Nowhere… well somewhere… but just me and Astrid," I explained.

"Hey, I don't need any more siblings!" Nuffink teased.

I shook my head and glanced at Astrid, who was smiling at the comment.

I climbed onto Toothless's back and Astrid climbed onto Stormfly.

"Ready, bud?" I asked. Toothless growled happily and jumped into the sky. Stormfly and the Light Fury followed us. On the backs of dragons, traveling to the hidden beach was much faster. What was usually a two-hour walk, only took ten minutes at a casual flying speed.

Astrid sighed loudly. "I missed this!" she exclaimed.

"I did too," I said in agreement. The wind in my hair, the smell of the clouds, the ability to see for miles… It was amazing.

"There, Stormfly," Astrid said, pointing towards the small stretch of sand. Stormfly squawked and dove towards the beach, Astrid laughing the entire way. My eyes widened as they stopped just a few feet before they hit the sand.

"You think we can still do a death drop, bud?" I asked.

Toothless growled as if to say, "Are you kidding? Of course, we can."

I chuckled. "Let's go, bud!" I shouted as Toothless dove towards the beach.

Once we were only a few feet away I pulled up, but Toothless couldn't slow in time so we ended up rolling in the sand, much to my wife's amusement. I raised my arms in the air when I got up. "Yeah! That was awesome!" I shouted. The rush brought back memories of when I was younger. Toothless and I would dive from Gothi's hut on top of the hill, but we would always stick the landing.

"Awesome? That was a terrible landing!" Astrid laughed.

"What can I say? We are just a little rusty," I replied.

The Light fury landed beside us and nudged Toothless's back.

"Okay, girl, I'll give your mate back," I chuckled as I dismounted Toothless.

Stormfly joined the furies as they played in the water. Astrid and I sat down next to each other in the sand. She laughed and dusted the sand out of my beard.

"Did Nuffink's comment bother you?" I asked.

"No, he doesn't know," she sighed.

"Hey, it's a good thing though. Not being able to have kids anymore? That means we are officially old," I said sarcastically.

She laughed and leaned her head on my shoulder. "Oh, very true, chief. We are officially in our mid-forties. Can you believe that?" she laughed.

"It feels like just yesterday we were having to keep the twins and Snotlout out of trouble on Dragon's Edge," I laughed too. When it was quiet again Astrid sat up.

"This feels too good to be true," she said.

"I was just thinking the same thing," I agreed.

"Something is going to happen…" she muttered.

"Yep, but I don't mind enjoying this moment with you and our dragons," I said, smiling at her.

"You're such a romantic," she laughed.

"You love it," I said. She beamed at me and leaned in close to me. I'll never get over the feeling of kissing her. Every time she kissed me I felt like I was that scrawny fifteen-year-old boy again.

It had been over thirty years since then.

"What are your thoughts on Brandt?" Astrid asked.

"I think he is great. Maybe a little quiet, but that is to be expected. I mean he and his family are on a brand new island, living with people they don't even know. It is probably a little nerve-racking," I said.

"True. I think he will warm up to us. I just can't believe he is here. We should probably check in with the kids to see how they are handling it. I mean, they are all doing great. Then all of a sudden an older brother they didn't know they had randomly shows up on Berk and they have to accept it. That could be a lot to handle," Astrid reasoned as she watched our dragons play.

They were the same age as us, but still had crazy amounts of energy. I shook my head and chuckled when the Light Fury pushed Toothless into the water.

If I could have spent the rest of my life in that moment, I would have been very happy.

"We've been gone a few hours now, should we head back?" I asked.

Astrid sighed. "Probably," she replied.

I whistled for the dragons and they came bounding towards us. Astrid and I climbed onto our dragons and flew back home.

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

Awkward.

That's the only word that came to mind in this situation.

Ragnhild and I sat across from Brandt and Marina at the kitchen table. Raggy and I had made lunch for all four of us since my mom and dad had decided to skip out for the day. The silence was almost unbearable.

"So, uh, Marina, how old is Arlo?" Ragnhild asked, attempting to break the silence.

"Oh, yesterday was actually one month," Marina replied with a smile.

Then it fell silent again.

"Okay, what are you doing here?" I asked, looking up at Brandt.

"Nuffink…" Ragnhild said quietly.

Just then my parents returned, but I was already worked up and couldn't stop.

"No, I mean, why show up now? I know there is something you aren't telling us. And I know you have been lying to us. Like earlier, when you said your dragon died of old age, yes I heard that. But it couldn't have been old age. Your dragon was younger than my mom's dragon and she is still around. So if you lied about that, what else are you hiding?" I asked forcefully.

Brandt raised his eyebrows in surprise at my outburst.

"Well, if you must know, StarBlaze was actually poisoned on accident. It is just such a painful memory that I don't like to talk about it. And I am not hiding anything. I just want to know my birth parents, and I want my son to know his grandparents," Brandt said, choking on emotion as he mentioned his dragon.

I frowned at him and sat back down in my seat as my mother quickly hugged him.

"Nuffink, why would you say that?" My father asked angrily.

I just shook my head in disbelief. Brandt was hiding something, I knew he was. And he already had my parents won over. I needed to find a way to get him to reveal his true colors.

"I'm going to Zephyr's," I muttered as I stood up quickly, accidentally knocking my chair over in the process. Not bothering to pick it up, I stormed out of the house. Ragnhild picked up the chair and followed me out the door. Dawn bounded over to me from where she had been sitting with her parents. She followed behind me when I didn't stop to pet her.

"Nuffink, what was that?" she asked worriedly, walking double time to keep up with me.

I shook my head, my jaw set and my shoulders tight. Dawn growled worriedly.

"Nuffink? Hey, you need to talk to me!" Ragnhild shouted as she stepped in front of me. I stopped walking and stared over her head, not wanting to look her in the eyes when I was this frustrated.

Her soft hand reached up to my cheek. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"He is hiding something. And he has my parents wrapped around his finger," I said through clenched teeth.

"They feel guilty, babe. He had to grow up without ever knowing who his parents were because of them," she said gently.

"Why didn't they just run away?" I asked.

"I don't know, that is something you'll have to ask them," Ragnhild told me, "But, right now, you need to take a deep breath. We can go to Zephyr and Spike's house, but you need to calm down. You don't want your nephew to see you like this."

"Which nephew? Apparently, I have two," I replied curtly.

"Okay, if you are going to use that tone with me, you can go by yourself!" Ragnhild said shortly. She turned to walk away, but I reached out and grabbed her arm.

"No! Don't go, please? I'm sorry. I'm just upset. I should never speak to you that way. I'm sorry," I apologize sincerely.

She sighed and looked up into my eyes. "You're a lot of work," she said.

"I know," I replied.

"But I love you," she whispered.

I smiled. "I love you."

She stood on her toes and gave me a short kiss.

Dawn nudged my arm, asking to be pet. I chuckled and stroked her scales.

"I love you too, girl," I said. Dawn cooed happily and opened her toothless mouth into a wide smile.

"Let's go to Zeph's house," Ragnhild said, grabbing my hand and pulling me just a little way down the road towards my sister's house, Dawn following closely behind us.

* * *

**Hello Readers,**

**Sorry about the wait. It has been a rough week. A close friend of mine was killed in a car accident five days ago. It has been a lot to take in. Thank you for your patience with me! It is greatly appreciated.**

**Sincerely,**

**EverAfterWritings**


	6. The Descendants and Their Dragons

The Descendants and Their Dragons

_*Zephyr's Point of View*_

"I just don't trust him!" Nuffink said frustratedly.

"Hey, I get that, but your nephew is asleep upstairs, so please keep quiet," I whispered sharply.

Nuffink rolled his lips back over his teeth, putting them together tightly. Dad makes the exact same face whenever mom is getting on his case about something, and according to grandma, my dad used to make that face when Grandpa Stoick would yell at him. I shook my head and sighed. Everyone always said I looked just like my dad, but really it was just the hair and the personality. Nuffink was identical, except for the blonde.

I sat down in the armchair across from the couch where my brother and his fiance were sitting.

"So we know he is a liar," I said, "we just don't know why. What is he hiding?"

"That's what I want to find out," my brother said with determination.

"Well, how can we help?" I asked.

"First, we need to get Ragnhild a dragon," he said, "then we can follow him. He goes somewhere every afternoon. He says he is going for a walk, but even Marina doesn't know exactly where he goes."

"Where who goes?"

I looked up and saw my sister and her boyfriend walking into the front door.

"Eira, do you ever knock?" I asked.

"Yeah, but Dawn is outside so I knew Nuffink was here. I figured you were having a sibling party without me. So who are we following?" she asked excitedly.

"Brandt," Ragnhild said.

"Okay, so we get Ragnhild a dragon. Maybe Mila can come along too," I suggested.

"Oh cool! Are we like forming our own team? Like mom and dad's dragon riders! We can be the Dragon Warriors!" Eira said, her excitement obvious.

"Warriors? We aren't fighting anybody. And this is too many people now. Brandt will see us coming," Nuffink said.

"Okay, Dragon Fighters?" Buff suggested. I rolled my eyes.

"You're right. Plus, some of our dragons aren't very stealthy," I said, eyeing the large snifflehunch attempting to get to Buffnut.

"Dragon Huggers!" Buff shouted. Eira shook her head.

"Mila will need a dragon too," Ragnhild reminded us.

Spikelout walked down the stairs, Hagen in his arms.

"Aww. Hi babe," I said.

"Somebody woke up because it was so loud," Spike said, casting a glare towards Eira and Buffnut. The two younger vikings smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, why don't you two be useful and go get my sister?" Ragnhild suggested.

Eira rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's go, Buff. You guys can't go anywhere without us! I have the third Night Light, one of the stealthiest dragons out there!" she said, pointing at us.

"Just go, guys!" Nuffink said frustratedly. He shook his head at the young teens.

The young vikings turned and left, talking about potential team names while they climbed onto their dragons.

"So, what kind of dragon do you want, babe?" Nuffink asked Ragnhild.

"I don't know. One that is kind and loyal and smart," she said thoughtfully.

"Maybe a Nadder?" Spiklout suggested.

"I think I will just have to go to the clearing and let one choose me," Ragnhild said.

"That's a good idea. We didn't really pick the Night Lights. They chose us. I guess it helped that our dad and their dad are best friends," I chuckled.

"Then let's plan on checking up on Brandt tomorrow. He has already come home from his 'walk' today," Nuffink said.

"Good idea. That way Ragnhild and Mila can find their dragons," I agreed.

Nuffink jumped up. "I can't wait to see what dragon you get. Let's go!" He said, grabbing Ragnhild's hand. She laughed as he pulled her out to Dawn. She sat behind him on the dragon's back and they took off towards the clearing where all the other dragons had gone.

"We can wait for Mila," I said to my husband.

"Maybe we can get him to go back to sleep?" he said.

"Doubt it," I giggled looking down at our son. He was wide awake. I guess he knew something was going on too.

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

The wind was loud as we sped towards the clearing. There was a lake in the middle that had plenty of fresh water and fish for the large pack of dragons. We landed near the treeline so as not to scare the dragons. Some of them had never even seen humans before.

"Dawn, stay here," I said. Dawn whined but sat down. I smile and pet her. "Good girl," I said.

Ragnhild slid her hand in mine and we walked towards a Deadly Nadder that was standing by itself.

As soon as it saw us it squawked and flew away.

Ragnhild sighed. "Hey, it's okay. The right dragon will come to you," I reassured her. She nodded and sat down in the soft grass. I sat down a few feet behind her so that dragons would be more willing to approach her. We sat in silence for a few minutes, no dragons brave enough to approach us.

"Any luck?" Zephyr asked.

I jumped in surprise. "Gods, Zeph. Don't sneak up on us like that," I complained.

Zephyr laughed. Mila was with her. Not only was Mila Ragnhild's older sister, but she was also my older sister's best friend. She was fierce and intimidating, much like Aunt Heather. She also had long blonde hair that she kept plaited down her back. She was strong and built like her father. She wasn't quite as big a viking as him, but she still looked more viking than the rest of us.

Mila smiled at me and walked past me to sit with her sister.

"So?" Zeph asked.

"Nothing yet, but I have noticed that the Windgnasher over there has been watching us," I whispered, pointing towards the pale blue dragon. Windgnashers were known to be loyal and friendly dragons. I thought about how much Ragnhild would like a Windgnasher. If only it could build up the courage to approach us and say hello. It was slowly getting closer.

Suddenly there was a shimmer next to Mila. A Changewing appeared next to her.

"Mila…" Zephry whispered cautiously.

"It's okay, I knew he was there," Mila replied calmly. She closed her eyes and held her hand out to the curious dragon. The Changewing sniffed Mila's outstretched hand cautiously. Its eyes softened and the dragon nudged Mila's hand gently.

Mila smiled and slowly stood up. "I think I have a dragon," she said happily, petting the Changewing gently.

"Yeah!" Eira and Buffnut shouted, their arms raised in the air. I cast a glare over my shoulder at them.

"Yeah!" they whispered when they realized they had been too loud. I shook my head at them.

"It's okay, girl," Ragnhild whispered as the Windgnasher slowly approached her. Ragnhild held her hand out to the timid dragon and it sniffed her.

Ragnhild slowly stood up and the dragon nudged at her playfully. Ragnhild laughed. "Well, hello to you too. Did you lose your shyness?" she asked. The dragon nudged her shoulder.

I slowly approached them, letting the large dragon sniff me to know I was okay.

"Okay, well now that we all have dragons," I said, "let's get you two saddled up and in the air. Then we can check up on Brandt tomorrow."

We all walked back to town. I didn't want Ragnhild to ride such a large dragon without a saddle to hold on to and Mila had only ridden a dragon once in her life and needed to practice in the arena.

"What are you going to name her?" I asked.

"Blizzard," Ragnhild said.

"Very nice. That fits her skills. That's one thing I think is really cool about Windgnashers," I said.

Ragnhild smiled. "What about you, sis?" she asked.

"I was thinking Acid Spewer or Skin Melter or something equally as fierce!" Mila said.

"Or you could name him Phantom," I suggested.

Mila was silent for a few seconds, thinking about the name I had suggested. "Phantom Killer!" she said excitedly.

I sighed and chuckled.

"That one is nice!" Zephyr said encouragingly.

"Thanks, Zeph. We can leave off the Killer part in normal conversation. It can be like her middle name," Mila replied.

"That's a good idea!" Ragnhild said.

"Oh, I've got it! Rider Descendants!" Buff shouted enthusiastically.

"Hmmm… Getting closer," I said.

Buff muttered to himself as he tried coming up with another team name.

"Oh now I've got it!" he said excitedly.

But before he could call it out, Eira asked, "Why not just Descendants?"

I glanced over at my fiance and she shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "fine with me."

"The Descendants? Sounds kinda cool," Zephyr said.

I nodded in agreement.

The Descendants and their dragons…

"That works," I said.

"Yes! We have a name! We are officially a team!" Buffnut shouted.

"Okay, well I am glad this all worked out, but I have a baby at home that will be getting hungry very soon. I'll see you guys later," Zephyr said as she climbed onto Eclipse. Eclipse purred excitedly. She loved flying with Zephyr.

I led the others to the forge so we could see if there were any old saddles in the back rooms.

Gobber was there to great us.

"Well, looks like you Ingerman lassies finally got yourselves some dragons!" Gobber said. His dragon, Grump, had returned with the others and was sleeping by the forge fire.

"Gobber, this is Blizzard, and that is Phantom," Ragnhild said.

"Nice to see some new dragons. Eira tells me you guys are making your own team of dragon riders," Gobber said.

I turned to my little sister. "When did you possibly have time to tell him that?" I asked.

"When Buff and I were getting Mila," she said sheepishly.

I sighed. "Yeah, we are. But it is not something we want too many people knowing yet," I said.

"We are The Descendants!" Buff said dramatically, his arms waving in the air. His dragon, Nosey, sniffed at his back and pushed his rider down. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"So, I take it you two will be needing saddles?" Gobber asked.

The girls nodded. The rest of us had saddles from the last time the dragons had returned. It was only for a week, but with all the flying we did, we quickly discovered we needed to get saddles. It was much more comfortable sitting on a saddle than it was to sit on the boney back of a dragon.

"Do you have any in the back?" I asked.

"Not sure. But you're welcome to check your father's old work room if you'd like," Gobber said, motioning towards a door at the back of the forge.

I approached the door and walked into the small room. Before my parents had Zephyr, this was my father's office. That way he could do his job as chief and help out at the forge. But once my sister was born, my dad decided to move his office to the Great Hall so that he and Uncle Dagur could be closer together to work out Berk's problems. The Great Hall was also a lot closer to our house, so he could get home to help my mom if she needed it.

My eyes scanned the room. There were journals and drawings all over the place. The walls had plans for inventions nailed up all over them. I smiled. My dad had only been three years older than me when he had started work in this office. It was strange seeing all the things he had been interested in when he was young. He always seemed so old to me, which is how most kids view their parents. But this room was proof that all those stories of his inventions and working with Gobber actually happened.

I remembered my dad telling me how he would work sometimes all the way through the night. My mom would bring him dinner and sometimes she would stay with him. She never stayed awake, though she tried, but she hated leaving him by himself when he was working on his inventions. She would always say, "If I had left you alone, you probably would have found some crazy way of getting yourself hurt. I saved your butt at least twice a day." And she was still saving my dad's butt.

But this time it was our turn to save them from whatever Brandt was up to.

"There," I said, pointing to a pile of old saddles.

Ragnhild and Mila walked over to the pile and found some that would fit their dragons.

"Okay," I said, "let's head home for the night. We will meet in the arena in the morning and then we can decide which of us will be following my brother."


	7. Teammates and Close Calls

Teammates and Close Calls

_*Eira's Point of View*_

"Did we really have to be here so early, babe?" Ragnhild asked with a yawn.

We were all in the arena. The sun had just barely come up over the horizon and my brother was standing in front of us with a smile on his face.

"How can you be so cheery in the morning?" I groan, rubbing my eyes.

"Yes, we have to be here this early. We need the practice. And, Eira, the same way you can be so cheery at night," Nuffink said.

I tilted my head to the side a little in understanding. He wasn't wrong.

"Eira, where's Buffnut?" Zephyr asked. Grandma Valka was watching Hagen today for my sister and her husband.

"Knapper is getting antsy," Spikelout said, petting his Titan Wing Dramillion's beak.

"How am I supposed to know? He doesn't tell me everything!" I said defensively.

Just then we heard a loud "INCOMING!"

I looked up and Dusk and I jumped out of the way just in time. My boyfriend crash-landed where I had been standing. He quickly got up.

"That was out best landing yet! Great job Nosey!" he said excitedly. The dragon growled happily and grinned at his human.

I glanced at my brother out of the corner of my eye. He was not amused.

"Okay, now that we are all here, those of us who need the flight practice can practice here. That way there is less of a chance of you guys, mainly Buffnut, accidentally destroying the entire village," Nuffink said, looking pointedly at Buffnut.

Dusk sat down and I lowered myself beside him. Night Lights were incredibly intelligent and easy to train. Dad had given us flight lessons, so my siblings and I already knew what we were doing.

My eyes traveled from one rider to the next. Spikelout was a good enough rider. He didn't need much practice. Ragnhild was a quick learner. It also helped that the group leader was her fiance so she got extra help. Mila was doing well for her first time flying. Phantom was getting used to having her on his back. I noticed that Zephyr was helping her and slowly turned my head to look at my boyfriend. He knew how to fly, he just had a clumsy dragon. Okay, Buffnut was also a very clumsy viking. Landing was the only part he had trouble with.

Once Buffnut had cleaned himself up from the crash landing, he and Nosey came over to sit by me and Dusk.

"Hey, babe," I said with a smile.

"Hey," he replied as he sat down next to me. I smiled and leaned against him.

"It's kind of cool to be part of something. I have never been part of a team before," Buff commented.

"Really? Not even for a game or something?" I asked.

"Nope. Nobody ever wants me on their team. I am a little clumsy," he said with a chuckle.

"Oh, just a little?" I teased, nudging him with my shoulder.

He shook his head at me but had a smile on his face just the same. He leaned in and kissed me softly. I smiled against his lips, pausing to take a breath before kissing him again.

"Hey! None of that!" Zephyr shouted at us.

"Oh shut up! You and Spikelout kiss all the time!" I shouted back.

"That's different," my sister replied.

I stood up and put my hands on my hips. "How so?" I asked.

"Spike and I are almost eight years older than you and he and I are married," Zephyr said.

"That is so not…" I paused, "Okay, fine that is different, but I can kiss my boyfriend if I want to!" I protested.

Zephyr shook her head at me. "I never said you couldn't kiss him at all. Just please refrain while everyone is here. It's awkward," she explained.

I groaned and rolled my eyes before marching back to my dragon and sliding down to the ground, my arms crossed over my chest.

"Stupid older sisters," I muttered.

"Heard that!" Zeph said.

I groaned. My head turned to give Buffnut one last kiss just to spite my sister.

"Seriously, Eira? Real mature, kid," Zephyr grumbled before turning her back to me to help Mila.

In front of me, Nosey was sniffing in circles, his nose rubbing into the sandy floor of the arena.

"You should probably practice. Nuffink won't be happy if you are the reason our team isn't at its best," I suggested.

Buff raised his finger. "You are right! Actually, I've been working on this new trick. It's really cool. It has some loops and then some dives…" the young viking moved his arms as examples, "you gotta see it!"

I smiled and shook my head. "Why don't you show me that later and just work on flying in a straight line right now?" I said.

"Hmmm… Yeah, you're probably right," he said casually before jumping onto his dragon. Buffnut was far from graceful when it came to mounting his dragon. First, he jumped with a loud grunt and landed on his belly in the saddle. Then he would grumble and swear under his breath as he pulled his leg up and finally sat up. It was quite entertaining and always made me giggle. Usually, by the time he was up, he was all out of breath and his hair would be a mess under his viking helmet. He kept his blonde hair long, much like his father's.

"Okay, Nosey, let's get your butt in the air. Come on, up we go," Buff instructed.

I watched as my boyfriend started to guide his dragon around the edge of the arena. After a few laps, I could already see a difference. He and Nosey seemed to be more in-sync.

"Look at that, Dusk," I said, nudging my sleeping dragon's nose. He moaned quietly as his eyes opened. He watched Nosey and Buffnut and cooed happily in the back of his throat.

"They're doing pretty good, right?" I asked. Dusk purred in agreement.

"And this is the training arena, where we train Berk's young vikings to be the next generation of warriors."

My head shot up at the sound of my Uncle Dagur's voice.

"Shit!" I muttered and ran over to Nuffink.

"Dagur has a tour!" I whispered fiercely. Nuffink's eyes widened.

"Everyone into the storerooms!" he ordered. The storerooms were large rooms on the sides of the arena where things like training dummies and weapons were kept. The dragons all filed in with their respective riders.

But Zephyr, Mila, and I were all on the opposite side of the arena.

"Quick I have an idea!" Mila said as the footsteps got closer.

Zephyr and I ran over to her, our dragons close behind us.

"Phantom, camouflage!" she whispered. Phantom spread his wings over us and shimmered to match the wall behind us. It wasn't quite enough though.

Dusk's ears perked up at the sound of my uncle and his group getting closer.

Dusk and Eclipse each shot two small blasts of plasma into the air and let the smoke fall back onto their faces, immediately they blended in with their surroundings.

"As you can see, the arena isn't being used right now, but in the fall it will be used full time to prepare and teach the young vikings," Dagur said as he walked to the middle of the sandy floor. He had a family with two young kids with him. As the second chief of Berk, he often took families that had kids, who would be training, on a tour of the training grounds.

"We have the best leaders in the whole archipelago training our viking students. Including Dagur's sister and my wife."

Oh no. Another familiar voice.

"Yes, brother, Astrid and Heather are definitely the best battle trainers we have ever had," Dagur said as my dad walked into view. I held my breath.

Uncle Dagur's gaze stopped at us momentarily before turning back towards the family.

"Hiccup, why don't you take them to meet Fishlegs. Fishlegs is our official historian and record keeper," Dagur said, directing the last part to the family.

"Of course, brother! Will you be joining us?" he asked.

"Yes! Of course. Just one minute. I need to check on some of the equipment for Heather," Uncle Dagur said.

Crap. He knew.

"Whatever you say. Let's go right this way," Hiccup said, leading the family out of the arena.

Dagur was silent for a few moments. Once we could no longer hear my father he said, "Come on out, guys. You don't have to hide from me.

I heard the squeak of the hinges on the storeroom doors. The three dragons in front of us shimmered and changed back into their normal skin colors.

"How on earth did you know we were here?" I asked curiously.

"I hunted dragons for years, you think I can't recognize the slight warp in a Changewing's camouflage?" he chuckled.

"Did dad see?" Nuffink asked.

"No. Your dad is smart and knows his dragons, but he didn't have any reason to memorize how to see a camouflaged Changewing," Dagur explained. His eyes looked around to every one of us.

"Care to explain what you are doing?" he asked.

"Uh, just some flight practice," Nuffink said.

"Yeah, right. In the arena… With a large group of riders… Flight practice, and what else?" my uncle questioned.

Nuffink sighed. "We don't trust Brandt. We created this team to see what he is up to. I know he is your daughter's husband and the father of your grandchild, but he has been a bit shifty lately," Nuffink continued to explain all the strange happenings that had occurred since Brandt, Marina, and Ozzy had arrived on Berk. Dagur listened quietly.

"But you can't tell my parents! They would never agree to this and will shut us down," Nuffink finished.

Dagur was silent for a few minutes while all of us held our breath.

Uncle Dagur sighed and said, "I don't trust him either. But if this team is going to work, you need some help from somebody who has already been in a group of dragon riders. Somebody who can help keep your cover," he said.

"Who?" Buffnut asked.

"He is talking about himself, muttonhead!" Zephyr said curtly.

"If you are going to keep this a secret from Hiccup and Astrid, you'll need my help. You'll also need somebody who can help you guys train. Nuffink, I am not going to take over from you, of course. You are the leader. But I can help," Uncle Dagur said.

Nuffink thought for a few minutes before stepping up beside our uncle.

"All those in favor of Dagur helping us out?" he asked, raising his hand. Everyone raised their hand up with him. Dagur grinned.

"Well, Uncle Dagur, looks like you are part of the team," Nuffink said with a smile.

"Awesome! So what are you guys called?" he asked.

"The Descendants!" Buffnut and I shouted enthusiastically!

Dagur laughed, "I love it! So what's our first mission?"

* * *

**I'm back!**

**Sorry for the wait guys. My computer busted and I was waiting for the summer student deals to come out before I got a new one.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter! I plan on updated regularly again!**

**Sincerely,**

**EverAfterWritings**


	8. Missions and Mysteries

Missions and Mysteries

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

"Okay, everyone. We need to decide who is following Brandt tonight. I think riders with dragons that have camouflage abilities would be ideal," I said.

"So Brandt just disappears every night?" Uncle Dagur asked.

I nodded in silent answer.

Dagur looked back to the group of vikings in front of him. He had two dragons, one was a Groncle named Shattermaster. Shattermaster had gotten injured years ago and was officially retired from Dragon Rider duty back when my parents were still on Dragon's Edge. But that didn't mean the little dragon didn't follow Uncle Dagur everywhere he could. They were best friends. Uncle Dagur's dragon that he could actually ride was an impression TripleStryke called Sleuther. Sleuther and Uncle Dagur had saved each other's lives and made a great team. The three of them got along really well. Sleuther was with him in the arena today.

My eyes went over the group as well. It was quite an impressive bunch of vikings and dragons. There was Spikelout Jorgenson with his TitanWing Dramillion, whom he named Knapper. Knapper had to be at least fifteen feet tall when on his back legs, if not taller. Then there was Spike's wife, who also happened to be my older sister, Zephyr, and her NightLight Eclipse, who got her name from her scales being half black and half white. They were a perfect match. Both quiet and thoughtful. After her was her best friend, Mila Ingerman. Mila was quite the viking. Most young men in town were pining after her because of her viking look and habits, but she showed no interest in settling down with a husband. Her Changewing, Phantom, had bonded with her very quickly. Then came the two youngest vikings in the group. My little sister Eira and her boyfriend Buffnut Thorston. Eira had a NightLight as well. Hers was named Dusk as his scales resembled a setting sun. Buffnut had befriended a slightly annoying Snifflehunch, whom he named Nosey. They both had good hearts and always had good intentions, things just didn't always go the way they planned. Then last, but certainly far from least, my fiance Ragnhild Ingerman.

Ragnhild took my breath away every time I saw her. Not only was she absolutely beautiful, but she also had the kindest heart and was very intelligent. In my eyes, she had no flaws. Raggy had her Windgnasher, Blizzard. They were both gentle, but you definitely did not want to get on their bad sides. When provoked, Windgnashers had a freeze breath so strong it could instantly freeze anything it touched, most often killing victims with hypothermia. And you definitely did not want to have Ragnhild come after you. Both she and her sister had been trained by one of the Berserker's fiercest warriors, Aunt Heather.

Yes, it was a mismatched bunch, but with a little work, we would make a great team.

"Babe?" Ragnhild said, waving her hand in front of my face.

I snapped back to reality. "Sorry! I was thinking. What were we talking about?" I asked.

"Who is going on the mission?" Uncle Dagur asked.

"Oh! Right… Well, I think it should be Mila, Zephyr, and myself. We all have dragons with camouflage abilities and three is a good number for a mission like this," I reasoned.

"What about me? I have a NightLight too, you know!" Eira protested.

"Yes," I agreed with her, "But you are incredibly loud and not stealthy at all."

She opened her mouth to retort but realized I was right and decided to stay quiet.

"Excellent choices," Dagur said proudly, "I will make a visit tonight to see your parents and that precious grandbaby of mine. That way you guys will have cover at home."

"Thanks, Uncle," I said.

"Anytime. There is something off about Brandt, I just can't put my finger on it. Fill me in on what happens tonight. I have to go do chief stuff," he said as he walked towards the arena entrance, waving over his shoulder at us.

I sighed as we all made our way to our day jobs. Now, all we had to do was wait.

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

Night soon fell and too our great luck, there was no moon that night, giving us total cover in the trees behind my house. I could see Uncle Dagur through the windows, laughing and roughing up my dad good-heartedly. My dad played right along, laughing and joking with his friend. Mom and Marina just watched in amusement, often pausing to talk, probably about how weird my dad and Uncle Dagur's friendship was. My eyes searched for the person of interest and soon focused in on him. Brandt was sitting at the table, staring blankly at his mug of mead.

After a few more minutes he stood up and said something before walking towards the back door, pausing to give his wife a quick kiss before leaving. The back door creaked as it opened and he stepped out of the house and into the cool crisp air.

I glanced over my shoulder at Zephyr and Mila. Our dragons had already blended in with the surroundings, but we could feel their presence beside us. The body heat from those three dragons was enough to make us sweat a little.

My hand raised and my first two fingers motioned towards Brandt. The girls nodded in silent understanding before crouching low to the ground and silently following the man, making sure to stay out of earshot. I bent over to remain behind the cover of the bushes and followed the girls, Dawn's invisible nose nudging at my hip every now and then. It was nice to know she was there.

We walked for what felt like ages and only had a couple of close calls. At one point Phantom sneezed and acid shot at a tree beside us. We all managed to duck in time and Phantom covered the smoldering tree as best as she could. Brandt had continued on, not having seen us at all.

It was nice to know our dragons' camouflage worked.

After about an hour Brandt stopped at a small beach between two cliffs. He lowered himself down on a fallen tree and sat very still and silent.

Zephyr tapped my shoulder and mouthed, "what's he doing?"

I shrugged in reply, quickly casting my gaze back to my long lost older brother. We waited well into the night. We were about to give up and turn back when Brandt stood and faced to the left. My eyes darted to a dark figure that had stepped into view. Instinctively, I gripped the hilt of my sword at my hip, ready to attack at a moment's notice. I saw that Mila and Zephyr had their weapons ready as well for if the need arose.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show," Brandt said coolly.

"And miss a chance to see my nephew? Never! Especially when he has been gathering some much-needed information. Do they suspect anything?" the man asked.

Brandt shook his head. "Just as clueless as you said, uncle," he said quietly.

The man sighed and reached up to drop his cloak. "Good. Then they will never see us coming," the man said.

I could barely see him in the darkness, but he was large. I could also make out that he was bald, but had some facial hair. One thing that shone through the darkness was a large silver belt hook shaped like a skull. The skull looked so familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"So, tell me, how are Mr. and Mrs. Haddock?" the man asked.

"They are well. Very distracted with the return of their dragons and the return of their long lost son. Sometimes I wonder how I even came from them. They are painfully trusting," Brandt spat out the last few words bitterly.

"Aye, I bet. Just stick to the plan and we will get our revenge," the man responded.

"I think my "little brother" might be on to me, though. He is a smart lad," Brandt said, forcing the word brother out of his mouth as if it pained him to say it.

"Lead him off the trail. Your father's king isn't yet ready. Lead the lad off the trail and make sure that in Hiccup and Astrid's eyes, you have no flaws. They will be devastatingly unprepared and will be forced to relinquish their authority as chief and chieftess of Berk," the man instructed.

"Oh, there is that too. The Haddocks aren't the only chiefly blood in this place. Two tribes merged several years back. Hiccup shares his responsibilities as chief with Dagur the Deranged," Brandt informed the man.

I hadn't heard Uncle Dagur being referred to as "Dagur the Deranged" in quite some time now.

"So the Berserkers merged with the Hooligans, eh? That's an interesting twist. Dagur is an old, shall we say, friend, of mine. We were hunters together. At least we were until he betrayed your father and I. This revenge will be twice as sweet with the Berserker here as well," the man said, his voice eerily enthusiastic about possibly getting twice the revenge.

The man stood and fastened his cloak over his shoulders.

"I must go. We will meet under the next full moon. Your father's king should be nearly ready by then. We will avenge your father's death," the man said.

Brandt stood. "Very well. I will meet you here when the moon is full," he said. The two vikings nodded to each other and turned their separate ways.

We held our breaths as Brandt walked past us and down the dark forest path. I sighed when he was finally out of sight.

"Guys," Mila whispered.

Zephyr and I turned to her. She looked worried. "What did we just witness?"

"I have no idea, but we need to tell Uncle Dagur," Zephyr said.

"Yeah," I agreed, "Maybe he will know who that man was. Zeph, did you see the skull on his belt? Maybe if you draw it Uncle Dagur would recognize it."

"Good idea, Nuffink," Zephyr said.

"Okay, guys. You can come out now," Mila said towards where she thought our dragons were sitting. We all jumped when the dragons appeared directly next to their respective humans.

"You guys have to give us a little more warning when you're going to do that," I laughed, petting Dawn's nose, her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth in a playful expression.

I pulled myself into the saddle and my teammates did the same.

"Alright, girl, let's get home," I said just moments before our dragons shot into the night sky.


	9. Fact and Fiction

Fact and Fiction

_*Zephyr's point of view*_

"Shhhh!" Nuffink hissed when I accidentally broke a twig under my foot.

"What? It's not like Brandt will see us!" I complained.

"Toothless might hear us," he explained.

I sighed. He was right. We stopped at the path in front of my parents' house.

"Bye, love," I quickly said to Mila, giving her a hug. Mila smiled.

"See ya tomorrow, Zeph. Tomorrow morning, right Nuff?" she asked.

Nuffink nodded. "We'll tell the team what we saw," he confirmed.

Nuffink and I turned to face the house. "Have fun getting your butt back in there," I said, a slight laugh in my voice.

My brother chuckled and looked down at the ground. "Uncle Dagur will help me out," he said.

"Yeah, he will," I agreed.

We stood in silence for a few minutes, both of us processing everything we had seen and heard that night. Eventually, our dragons became restless.

"I should probably go, your nephew is probably hungry," I said.

"I'll come by and see him soon. He's my best little bud!" Nuffink said with a smile on his face.

"Fine by me. You can keep him if you want," I teased.

"Oh, no way. I just want to be the fun uncle," Nuffink said.

I laughed. "Okay, goodnight, brother," I said, giving him a quick hug before heading back toward my house.

Nuffink muttered a quick goodnight before taking a deep breath and walking into my old home.

I opened the door to my house, letting Eclipse in behind me to go sleep next to Knapper on their bed stone. She cooed tiredly and heated up her side of the stone before curling up and falling asleep.

As quietly as I could, I tiptoed up the stairs and into my and Spike's bedroom. Spike was already in bed. He groaned as I lit the candle on our bedside table so I could change into my nightclothes.

"I didn't think you'd be home so late," he muttered into his pillow.

"Sorry, babe. It took longer than we thought," I whispered as I unbuckled my belt. I bent over to take off my boots, removing all my hidden daggers under my tunic and in my boots as I did so.

"How many hidden weapons do you have?" Spike asked.

"Only five. One in each boot, one on my arm, and two at my hip," I replied, setting the knives down.

"You're something else," he whispered groggily.

I smiled and got in bed next to him. I leaned over and blew out the candle before snuggling into my husband's arms.

Sleep soon came to both of us.

At least until Hagen needed another meal.

* * *

"Do we always have to do this so early?" Eira groaned. The Descendants plus Uncle Dagur were all in the training arena - our unofficial clubhouse of sorts. Well, almost all of us were there.

"We have to before the kids get the arena," Nuffink explained for the umpteenth time.

"Okay, I'm here! What did I miss?" Buffnut ran in, Nosey waddling close behind him.

"Hi, baby!" Eira said excitedly, giving Buff a kiss. I groaned. How my parents tolerated this, I would never know.

"So, what happened last night?" Ragnhild asked.

"We followed Brandt; our dragons were in camo mode. He went to this strange secluded beach and there was a man in a coat and we couldn't see his face but he was big," Mila said.

"Yeah, and?" Eira said, making sure she looked like she didn't really care by picking at something on her fingernails.

"Brandt revealed everything. He called the man his uncle and they said something about Brandt's father having a king?" Nuffink said.

"Father? I thought Chief Hiccup was his dad," Buff said.

"And what's this king he is talking about?" Ragnhild asked.

"We don't know," I replied simply.

"Maybe his adopted father?" Mila offered.

"Probably, but what's the king?" Nuffink questioned, his hands combing through his hair.

Uncle Dagur looked at Nuffink like he was experiencing Deja Vu.

"You okay, Uncle Dagur?" I whispered to him.

"He looks like a blonde Hiccup," he chuckled.

I smiled. As Nuffink and I had gotten older we both had definitely taken more after my dad, while Eira was basically a mini version of my mom.

"Could the king be a person?" Ragnhild asked.

"They didn't talk about it like it was a person…" Mila said absentmindedly.

"I think the only way we'll get more information is if we follow him again," I said.

"No, we need to do something now. We have to tell mom and dad. That man told Brandt that the king would be ready by their next meeting!" Nuffink said.

"They will not believe us if we told them! They both feel guilty and see no flaws in Brandt," I reminded him.

"Okay we'll put it to a vote," Nuffink said.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders "Fine. All those with me?" I asked raising my hand. I only got Spike and Mila. I knew Mila was probably only raising her hand out of pity.

"And those with me?" Nuffink raised his hand. Everyone else, including Uncle Dagur, agreed with him. I groaned.

"Fine. Well, I won't be around when you tell them and crush them. They aren't ready," I said. I walked over to Eclipse, ignoring my brother calling my name. I swung my legs onto Eclipse's back and took off into the sky.

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

My heart thumped loudly in my chest as Zephyr flew away. My eyes glanced over at Spikelout and he nodded before following her on Knapper.

"How do we tell Chief Hiccup and Aunt Astrid?" Buff asked. Nosey was pushing past him to get to the other dragons, so Buff climbed onto his head very nonchalantly and held him back as best he could.

I paused momentarily from the strange scene but realized he still wanted an answer. "Um, I guess we just get them alone and tell them exactly what we saw," I said. The others nodded.

"They are both working at the office today. That would be a good time to get them alone," Dagur suggested.

"Good idea, let's go, team!" I said. I walked over to the huge arena gate and opened it.

"What about Zephyr and Spikelout?" Eira asked.

"She made her choice," I commented before turning and walking towards the offices. They were on the other side of the village by the forge, so it was going to be a bit of a walk. I felt somebody coming up beside me.

"Ragnhild I don't want to talk about Zephyr," I muttered.

"That's not what I was going to ask you," she said, a slight laugh in her voice.

The tension released from my shoulders. "Oh, okay," I said.

She slid her hand in mine. "I was going to ask if you wanted chicken, mutton, fish, or yak chops at the wedding," she said.

"Babe, hate to break it to you, but you're marrying the future chief. Our feast will probably have all of those," I chuckled.

"Oh, I didn't think of that," she said quietly.

"Having second thoughts?" I asked playfully.

"Never!" she responded, standing on her toes to plant a kiss on my cheek.

I slid my arm around her shoulders as we walked. "Good, because there is no way I'd let you get away that easily," I replied. She hummed in agreement.

We finally reached the offices next to the forge. Dad had purposefully put them here so that he could help Gobber out in his free time.

"Buff and I have the perfect plan! We will need a sheep, a yak, and a Zippleback," Eira said.

"No," I responded simply.

As we walked up to the building I saw several dragons outside the building. A green Zippleback, a red Nightmare, a Groncle, a yellow Nadder, some kind of silver metallic looking dragon, and my parents' dragons.

"Uncle Dagur?" I questioned.

"Shoot! The council meeting!" he said quickly.

"Who's dragons are those?" I asked.

"Well the Razorwhip and the Groncle are Windsheer and Meatlug, our parents' dragons," Ragnhild and Mila explained.

"That Nadder is Sol. Aunt Willow's dragon. The nightmare must be Hookfang," Eira said.

"That's Barf and Belch!" Buffnut said excitedly, running up to say hello to the two-headed dragon.

I glanced back at Eira. "Aunt and Uncle Twins' dragon," she explained.

Sleuther joined the group as Uncle Dagur ran inside.

"I have an idea! Stay put," he said.

I sighed and leaned back against Dawn. She purred and nudged my shoulder affectionately. Ragnhild walked over and stood in front of me, leaning forward against my chest.

My arms instinctively wrapped around her. After a few minutes, we heard the door to my dad's office open and out came all of our aunts and uncles. It was kind of strange seeing all of them with their dragons. I was able to picture them better as being my age and living on Dragon's Edge as all the stories said.

"What is it you guys wanted to tell us?" my dad asked.

I glared at Dagur, who just grinned and nodded. He motioned towards the entire group, silently telling me to explain the team first.

"Uh, yes. I just wanted to tell you guys that we decided to make a dragon-riding team of our own. Like you guys did at our age," I said.

The parents looked surprised but were smiling nevertheless.

"Oh? That's great! We could use another team like that around here. What do you guys call yourselves?" Astrid asked.

"The Descendants!" Buff and Eira said enthusiastically.

"Very nice. Intimidating and explains who you are all in one. It's poetic," Uncle Tuffnut said thoughtfully.

"Um… sure," Mila responded, eyeing the twin.

"So, why did you guys decide to do this?" my mom asked.

"Well, actually, we did it because we are worried about Brandt…" I said slowly.

"Brandt? What about him?" My dad asked, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"He's been keeping something from you guys," I said.

"And what's that?" Fishlegs asked.

Just then Ozzy, Brandt, and Marina walked up.

Ragnhild glanced up at me nervously. I took a deep breath.

"What was that you were saying, Nuffink? I thought I heard my name," Brandt said, squaring up his shoulders and giving me a look of warning.

I sighed and looked back at my parents.

"Can we maybe talk in the office?" I asked.

"No, you tell us here," my father said decisively.

"Fine," I said, summoning a little more confidence, "Brandt has been meeting somebody at the beach. They talked about Brandt's father having some kind of king that is going to help him take over and overthrow you."

"What?" My mother asked in disbelief.

"It's true," Mila spoke up, "I was there too. We saw the whole thing."

"Mom, Dad, you can't truly believe him. He just thinks I am here to take his place as chief. That's not what I want! I just want to know my parents. I understand that it was so hard for you to give me up. All I want is to make up for all those years I didn't know you. I want my son to know his grandparents. Nuffink is just jealous that we've been spending so much time together, He is looking for anything to hold against me," Brandt accused. He feigned hurt on his face, but I could see the truth behind his eyes.

"What? Dad, he is lying!" I retorted.

Hiccup held his hand up to silence us. I could see he was thinking. Everyone was quiet, all eyes on the chief.

Marina stepped forward. "Okay, I know we have only been here for a short time, but Brandt is my husband. I know he wouldn't lie about this," she said defensively.

I noticed that Ozzy looked down at his feet, avoiding all eye contact.

"Nuffink, I think you might be confused, son," he said softly.

I scoffed in disbelief. "You're taking his word over mine?" I asked.

"It isn't that, Nuffink. We just think maybe you guys misunderstood what you saw and heard," my mother reasoned.

I shook my head and turned around.

"Let's go," I whispered to Dawn, pulling myself onto her saddle.

I vaguely remember hearing Ragnhild and Eira calling after me, but I needed to clear my head.

I needed to feel the wind on my face.

I needed to get away.


	10. Return to Dragon's Edge

Return to Dragon's Edge

_*Ragnhild's Point of View*_

My heart dropped as Nuffink flew away with Dawn. My eyes looked up and focused on Brandt's smirking face. I was furious.

"So you guys are just going to let your son go like that?" I asked, looking at my chief and chieftess. They were watching the speck in the sky that was their son disappear on the horizon. I wanted to hit somebody, probably Brandt.

But I am not a violent person, so all I did was glare back at him as fiercely as I could. Then I turned toward Blizzard.

"Let's go get him, girl," I whispered.

Blizz lowered so I could get on more easily then, with a shaky take-off, we flew after my fiance.

Windgnashers are not known for being fast, more for their freezing breath and brute strength. Catching up to Nuffink wasn't an option, especially since he was riding the fastest dragon species there was. But I had an idea of where he would go. He wanted to get as far away as possible. He probably wasn't even going to stay on the island.

I heard a noise behind me and glanced over my shoulder. Eira, Mila, and Buffnut were on their dragons behind me.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"We are a team, and he is my brother. You aren't going after him yourself," Eira said matter-of-factly.

I sighed. "Fine, but you have to work with me, okay? We need to act like a team," I reminded them.

They all murmured in agreement.

"Where do you think he is going?" Mila asked.

"Not one hundred percent sure, actually. But I know he went this direction," I responded.

"You think he would go this far away from the island?" Buffnut asked nervously, having never been this far away from home before either.

"If I know my brother, and I am pretty sure I do, then he will get pretty far out to clear his mind. He never had the option of leaving Berk before, but now that we have our dragons…" Eira reasoned.

We flew for about two hours with no sign of Nuffink. Eira flew ahead on Dusk several times, just to see if she could spot him, but she saw nothing.

"Does anyone know what islands are in this direction?" Mila asked.

I shut my eyes, bringing up a mental image of Uncle Hiccup's map. "I think old Berk is this direction… and Dragon's Edge," I commented.

"Gods… you think he'll go that far?" Buff asked.

"Maybe," I replied.

Everyone was silent again.

"Hey, wait up!"

We all turned to look behind us.

"What the hell?" Mila said.

Behind us, flying on an orange Zippleback, was none other than Ozzy.

I groaned and pulled back on Blizzard.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Brandt has been acting strangely ever since we got here. I am not sure what's going on, but he is the closest thing I have to a brother. And he makes my sister happy. If you guys are going to figure out what's going on, I am going to come along," he said determinedly.

I groaned. "Fine, but this does not make you part of the team… yet. And you have to follow what we do. Okay?" I instructed.

Ozzy nodded stiffly.

"Okay, let's find my fiance," I said, urging Blizzard forward.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Buff groaned.

"No," I replied.

"How about now?" Eira asked impatiently. She flew beside me, sprawled out on Dusk's back.

"Seeing how Buffnut just asked if we were there, the answer to that is no," I replied.

"I just figured I would ask," Eira commented with an eye roll.

"So, are we there now?" Buffnut asked.

I groaned in frustration and turned to look at him. But as I did so, I saw a mountain peak out of the corner of my eye.

I steered Blizz toward it, the others following in confusion.

"Uh, sis? What are you doing?" Mila asked.

Then the clouds cleared and the island I had only heard of appeared before my eyes.

"Is that it?" Mila asked.

I couldn't speak; I could only nod. Dragon's Edge was as amazing as I thought it would be, but at the same time, it wasn't.

We landed by what was probably at one point a training arena. But now it was a mess. The floor had been overgrown by grass, the metal pieces that had once been a dome were rusted and falling apart, and the wooden posts were cracked in some places.

As I dismounted Blizzard my eyes glanced up to the huts, smiling as I saw the one that could only have belonged to my father. It was brown and had faded spots painted on the roof and the outer walls.

"This is Dragon's Edge? It's kinda broken down," Eira commented.

"Well, that's what happens when a place isn't visited for almost forty years," Mila replied.

"I'm actually surprised they are still in fairly decent condition.

"Oh, cool! Guys, check this out!" Buffnut shouted as he jumped off Nosey and onto an old lookout tower. There was a large horn inside. Buff blew into the end and a low bellow escaped the horn.

"Buffnut, no! We don't know what that does. What if it alerts bad guys?" Eira scolded.

"Oh… Didn't think of that. Sorry, babe," he said, jumping down from the tower and onto Nosey's back.

"So, where is that kid we are looking for?" Ozzy asked.

I looked up towards the huts. My eyes glanced from each one. There was a green one that had scorch marks and holes in the roof - probably belonged to Aunt and Uncle Twins. A rough red hut that appeared to have been burned multiple times. The burns were similar to those of Nightmare fire so that one was probably Uncle Snotlout's. The next hut was sleek and blue. It appeared to have been heavily armored, with a large crossbow in front and old rotting shields along the walls - probably Aunt Astrid's house. Last, but not least, a hut made of metal and wood with black and red paint. It seemed thoughtfully put together. On the front door was a painting of a Night Fury.

"He's there. I'll go get him," I said, pointing to the hut that had belonged to our chief.

I climbed up the wooden ladder and cautiously stepped into the hut.

"Nuffink?" I called out quietly.

I got no response.

"Nuffink Haddock, I know you are here!" I shouted.

Still nothing.

"Nuffink, I know you are upset, but we need you to help us stop whatever it is that is coming for Berk. You are the future chief for gods' sake! Berk needs you," I sighed as I still got no response.

"I need you. I can't do this without you," I finished.

It was silent for a few more moments then I heard rustling upstairs. My head quickly jerked up in time to feel the familiar arms of my fiance wrap around me. I sighed and leaned into him.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," I replied. Nuffink gently tilted my head up and kissed me. I sighed and pushed into him. This felt nice after not being able to kiss in a while. The other Descendants never let us have a moment alone.

"As sweet as this is, we have a bad guy to stop."

We both looked up and saw our team with Eira in the front.

"How long have you guys been there?" Nuffink asked.

"Pretty much the whole time. We weren't about to let Ragnhild go into an old abandoned hut without knowing what was inside," Mila replied.

I sighed and buried my face in Nuffink's shoulder. I couldn't help but let a small laugh escape my lips. Next thing I knew, Nuffink was laughing too. Then we all were laughing without really knowing why. I think we were just happy to have had one moment of peace.

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

I felt so embarrassed about running away like I did. But I am still human, I make rash decisions at times and I make mistakes. I guess the biggest mistake was not relying on my best friends.

"Hey guys, check out this cool room!" Eira shouted.

We all looked up and saw she was at the top of a spiraled peak. At the top was a building with those sliding doors like my father's hut had but they were on all sides of the building. Eira had flown up there on Dusk. I glanced around at my team. They were all grinning from ear to ear.

"Look at the paint on the side," Ozzy commented. On the side of the building was a painting of each of the Dragon Riders' dragons.

"Okay, guys. Mount up! Let's go!" I said with a smile, hopping onto Dawn's back.

I leaned forward and held onto the handle grips on my saddle, preparing for the take-off. Dawn growled excitedly in anticipation and shot into the air, going straight up to the building. I could hear the "whoops" and "yeahs" of my teammates, plus Ozzy. The dragons were enjoying it too. Dawn let her tongue hang out in the wind, effectively spraying dragon drool all over me.

"Dawn!" I complained as we landed. I slid off her back and tried wiping the drool off my tunic.

"Dawn, you know this stuff doesn't wash out," I groaned. Dawn just grinned and growled deep in her throat, which sounded very much like she was laughing at me.

I shook my head at her and turned around towards the building. There was some weather damage, a few wooden boards were missing or broken and the metal doors had rusted in some spots. There were a few scorch marks scattered around the paneling on the floor and on the wooden parts of the walls. Obviously our parents and their dragons did not always get along. But if I had to make a guess, I would say most of this stuff was from Uncle Snotlout's dragon, Hookfang.

In the far corner of the large open room, there was a stack of old barrels.

"Guys check this out!" Buffnut said excitedly. He had found an old mug and had filled it up with whatever was in the barrels.

"No way, Buffnut!" Mila shouted, hitting the mug out of his hand.

"What? It's just mead! I think," Buffnut said.

"Okay, if that is what it is, it has been here for years and will be a hundred times stronger than the watered-down stuff you kids drink," Mila responded, shaking her head.

Buffnut shrugged and Eira grabbed his hand. "Let's go check out your dad and Aunt Ruff's place!" she said enthusiastically. She pulled him towards Dusk, both of them climbing onto her. Nosey flew behind them.

Once those two were gone I scanned the room again. There was a huge hearth in the middle of the room. The edging was wide enough that people could sit at it.

"I bet this is where they ate their meals," Ragnhild said, sitting down on an old rickety stool that was next to the hearth.

"Probably," I agreed.

Ozzy turned to look at the weapons and shields that were stacked in one corner.

"Zephyr didn't come?" I asked quietly.

Ragnhild shook her head. "Sorry, Nuffink. But she has Hagen to take care of," she reminded me.

"Yeah, and she is mad at me," I said.

"Well I wasn't going to say that, but yeah," Ragnhild replied, resting her hand on my back. I moved my hands to the stone edge of the hearth and leaned on them, my head down.

Ragnhild slid her arms around me and rested her head on my back. She gently placed a kiss on the back of my neck.

"Oh, gross. What do you have on you?" Ragnhild exclaimed, jumping away from me and wiping her mouth.

"Dragon drool. Sorry, I probably should have warned you," I said with a sheepish grin.

She shook her head at me. "Yeah, a warning would have been nice," she rebuked playfully.

I chuckled and reached out for her. "You want some more?" I asked, stepping towards her.

"Nuffink! No!" Ragnhild laughed and ran from me. She was fast, that is for sure, but I had the advantage of longer legs. I quickly reached her and wrapped my arms around her, the dragon drool on my tunic rubbing off onto hers.

"Oh, Nuffink… Really?" she groaned in both amusement and disgust.

"Hey, guys! You should come take a look at this," Ozzy said from the corner. He held a large paper in his hand. It was yellowed with age, but I could still see the writing on it.

"What is it?" I asked, reaching for the paper.

Ozzy handed it to me. "A letter. But look, it was written to your dad," he said.

Sure enough, there at the top was my father's name. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III…

My eyes scanned the page.

"What in Thor's name…" I whispered when I saw the signature at the bottom.

"What is it?" Ragnhild asked, peering over my shoulder.

"It's from Brandt," I whispered.

* * *

**Hello Readers,**

**Thank you for your patience with me with this chapter. I started school at a new college in a city that is over a thousand miles from home. It has been quite an adjustment and the professors assign a lot of homework, so I haven't had much time to write. I will update when I can. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**Sincerely,**

**EverAfterWritings**


	11. Letters and Journals

Letters and Journals

_*Eira's Point of View*_

"Aunt and Uncle Twins sure kept a lot of weird stuff," I commented, picking up a strange-looking scarecrow. Or I assume it was a scarecrow. It had hair like the twins. When I realized this I put it back down in disgust.

"Yeah, that's just how they are. They have a room at home that is just for all their random stuff," Buffnut said.

I glanced over at my boyfriend.

"You know…" I said calmly, "this is the first time we have had a chance to be alone in a while…"

Buffnut looked over at me with wide eyes. "Yeah, I guess so," he replied.

I smiled and walked over to him. "If you don't kiss me in the next five seconds I'm going to…" I didn't finish because his lips were over mine. I sighed contentedly, my hands reaching around, moving his three long braids out of the way so I could put my hands on his back.

We kissed like we were making up for lost time, which I guess we were.

We only broke apart when we desperately needed to catch our breaths. We separated, both of us breathing heavily. The next thing I know we were both laughing quietly. I stepped forward and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I missed that," I whispered.

"I did too," he said, brushing his fingers through my golden hair.

"Eira! Buffnut!"

We both sighed when we heard Nuffink calling us.

"Coming!" I shouted in reply. Then I turned back to Buffnut. "After one more kiss," I said with a grin. Buffnut smiled and firmly pressed his lips to mine one last time before we walked over to our dragons.

However, the happiness Buff and I were feeling soon disappeared when we saw our teammates' faces.

"What's going on?" I asked, concern filling my voice.

"We found this letter," Ozzy said, holding it out to me.

"It's to dad," Nuffink added.

"Okay, well who is it from?" I asked, taking the letter.

My eyes widened.

"Oh," Buffnut whispered after reading over my shoulder.

My eyes scanned the page and I read aloud,

_Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III_

_You probably don't remember me, but my name is Brandt. Well, maybe you do remember me. I am your kid after all. Was it too soon to say that? I don't know. I decided to write to you and tell you how I am doing. Mum and Pa are taking care of me and Pa says when I am big and strong I can take over for him. Then I can come and show you that you never should have let me go. I am twelve years old now. Maybe someday I will come find you and then you can see what all you have missed. You and Astrid just sent me away. I know all of your stories, but none of that matters because I never got to know my real parents. In the stories, you both sound amazing. I can't help but wonder why you didn't just fight and keep me. Was I not worth it to you? My pa says he has a king that can overthrow you and he wants me to help him. If you answer this maybe I won't help him. I just want to know if you care. _

_Your son,_

_Brandt Haddock G._

"Wow… There are a lot of mixed emotions in that letter," I commented.

"He was only twelve, which is not that much younger than you. But when he was twelve, Dragon's Edge was already abandoned. Zephyr and I were already born. Why is the letter here?" Nuffink questioned.

"Maybe your father never got it," Ragnhild said.

"Well, that would make some sense. I guess somebody delivered it here," Mila reasoned.

"How it got here doesn't matter. We just need to know if Hiccup saw it," Ozzy reminded us.

"I wouldn't think so. My dad wouldn't have had a way to come back here. The dragons were gone then," Nuffink said thoughtfully.

"That's true," Ragnhild agreed, reaching up to lovingly pet Blizzard's nose.

We all sat in silence, each of us lost in our thoughts.

"What's that on the envelope?" I asked.

Mila, who had been holding the envelope, looked down. "A seal," she said. I nodded.

I glanced over at my boyfriend. From the look on his face, he was not thinking about the letter.

"What are you thinking about?" I whispered, leaning against him.

"Lots of things. I am thinking about you, about if I could make a pair of socks for Nosey because he tends to get cold, then I think about you some more, then I wonder if I could make a pair of socks for Dusk because I am sure he gets cold too…" he paused and grinned at me, "Then I think about you some more, babe."

I sighed and shook my head. "You're an idiot," I whispered.

"Yep, but I am your idiot," he said, a cheesy grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes, but still pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"Seriously, you two?" Nuffink groaned.

"What? I can't kiss my boyfriend?" I retorted defensively.

"No that's not what I am saying. But does it have to be in front of everyone?" my brother asked.

"Do you have to kiss Ragnhild in front of everyone?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Nuffink sighed and turned away from me.

"Can we please figure this out? I get the idea that Brandt's "Pa" may have been bad news," Mila commented.

Ozzy nodded. "He did mention once that his father was not the best there ever was. I always thought he meant Hiccup, but now I am not so sure," he said, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck, "I am starting to regret leaving my sister there with him."

Ragnhild stepped forward and rested her hand on Ozzy's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Don't worry. I am sure she will be fine. Plus she has Uncle Dagur with her. I highly doubt he will let anything happen to her," she said soothingly.

Ozzy sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I guess I need to get used to having somebody else around to look after her. It was just me and my sister for a long time. I felt bad about leaving her, especially since I couldn't tell her where I was going because I didn't want Brandt to use that information against her," he replied, sitting down on an old stool at the fire pit in the middle of the room.

We all sat down with him. There were just enough chairs for the six of us. We would have been two short if my sister and Spike had come, but Zeph was still pissed at Nuffink as far as we knew and they both had my sweet nephew to take care of. It would have been nice to have the third Night Light though. They work best when they are all three together.

It was kind of cool to pick out what stool belonged to which of our parents. There was one that had scorch marks on it, probably from Hookfang. There were two that were close together and had some strange writing on it - probably Aunt and Uncle twins. My dad was known for doodling when he was sitting still or doing something like eating a meal. He always needs to be doing something with his hands. One stool had little Night Furies etched into the wood, which was obviously his. I could easily pick out my mom's as well. Her chair had scratch marks from where her ax or a sword or a dagger or some other weapon would have scraped against the wood while she was sitting down. She liked to hang weapons on her belt sometimes, so that was probably how that happened. There was a small pile of rocks next to the last stool. My bet was that it was Uncle Fishlegs' chair because Meatlug's diet consisted of rocks and pretty much only rocks.

"Eira! Are you listening?" Nuffink said, waving his hand in front of my eyes.

"Sorry!" I said, snapping back to reality.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked.

"Nothing! Just looking around the room. Kinda cool to see where our parents spent their time when they were our age," I replied.

His eyes wandered the room. "Yes, but we need to focus. We have a plan. How much of it did you hear?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

I smiled sheepishly in response and he sighed.

"Okay, I'll start over for you two muttonheads," he said, shaking his head. I smiled. He wouldn't have called us muttonheads if he was really annoyed with us.

Nuffink nudged Ozzy's shoulder.

"Oh! Right!" Ozzy chuckled, "I came up with the plan. Okay, so we need to find out who Brandt's "pa" is and what his King is. So I was thinking we could track down the seal on the letter. Figure out what island it is from or if it is a personal seal. That could help us figure out who we are looking for," Ozzy said.

"That's good," I agreed.

"Okay, team. We are going to camp here tonight. We leave first thing in the morning to go to the Northern Markets. We can ask the merchants about the seal," Nuffink said.

It had gotten dark outside.

"Come on, Dusk. Let's go to sleep. I want to stay in mom's hut!" I said, scratching my dragon's chin while he purred.

We flew over to the faded blue building and walked inside. There was a large stone in one corner. Dusk growled excitedly and ran over to the stone, heating it up with her flames. It must have been a dragon bed or something. I grabbed a blanket and a pillow out of my saddle pack and lied down next to the stone, my dragon nuzzling me with his nose.

_*Nuffink's Point Of View*_

Everyone left to go to their parents' cabins. All but Ozzy. I offered to let him stay in my dad's hut, but he said he wanted to sleep in the clubhouse.

I walked through the door and into my dad's hut. There were a few of Toothless' old tail fins hanging on the walls and there were old invention plans stacked on a desk in the corner. I sat at the desk and looked at some of the plans. I picked one up. It was for a sword that could light itself on fire. That was pretty cool!

"Why didn't you make this one, dad?" I muttered.

I moved on to the next inventions. I sighed. Zephyr would love to see these. She really took after my dad when it came to artistic and creative abilities. She loves helping him and Gobber in the forge. My hands went to the drawer on the desk and slid it open. Inside were a few old pencils, some sheets of paper, and a journal.

"Huh… Why would he leave a journal behind?" I said to myself. I reached into the drawer and picked up the leather notebook. It was a pretty good size, bigger than most of the journals he had back home. I blew the dust off the cover and opened to the first page.

It was a sketch. Not quite as good as the ones he draws now, but still pretty good. The sketch depicted a woman with fierce eyes and a slight smirk on her face, almost like she knew at least twenty different ways to kill you if the need arose. Under closer examination, I realized the woman was my mother. I chuckled at how young she looked. She looked like maybe she was even younger than me, but not as young as Eira. It was crazy how much she actually looked like Eira. Eira had that same smirk and fierce eyes. I definitely got more qualities from my dad aside from my blond hair.

"Nuffink?"

I glanced up at the soft whisper and smiled when I saw Ragnhild.

"Hey babe, come look at what I found," I said, motioning for her to come forward. She quietly walked over and sat down on my lap, leaning her head against mine as she looked at the journal I was holding.

"Is that your mom?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah! Crazy right? This must be from when they were living here," I reasoned.

We turned the page and there was a drawing of Toothless.

"That's pretty good," Ragnhild whispered.

"Yeah, he has always been really talented when it comes to drawing and designing things," I agreed.

We turned the page again and saw another drawing of my mom, but this time it was more than just her face, it was from her head to her waist. She was resting her hands over her belly.

"Is she…?"

"I think so," I whispered.

"This must have been when they were going to have Brandt," Ragnhild commented.

I flipped the pages to find several more sketches of dragons, usually just Toothless and Stormfly, but sometimes the other dragons would join in too. Then we came to another sketch of my mom, but in this one, she was obviously pregnant.

"I hope I look as good as your mom when I'm pregnant someday," Ragnhild said with a chuckle.

"You always look beautiful," I said, kissing her cheek before I continued flipping through the sketches. As we got closer to the back of the book, the sketches started turning into journal entries.

"Wait, go back," Ragnhild whispered.

I stopped and flipped back a few pages.

"There," she said. My hands stopped on a page that had some kind of letter or note written on it.

"A letter?" I asked.

"Milady… Oh, it's to your mom!" Ragnhild said, reading the first word at the top of the page.

"Oh gosh, I don't know if I can stomach reading this," I said, pretending to gag.

Ragnhild laughed and took the book from my hands. "Then I will read it and you can sit there," she said decisively. I watched as her beautiful eyes scanned the page.

"Nuffink, it's a sweet letter! Nothing gross… I don't think he intended on giving this to your mom. I think he just wrote it for himself to clear his head," she told me.

"Still don't want to read it, Raggy," I said.

Ragnhild shook her head but was still smiling. "I thought you liked romance," she teased.

"I do! But not when it is my parents! I like it more when it's with you," I said, nuzzling my head into the crook of her neck, gently pressing my lips to her skin for a few seconds.

Ragnhild sighed and lowered the book. "Stop it, I want to look through the rest of this book," she said. I stopped but I didn't want to pull away completely, so I kept my head on her shoulder.

"Wait, Nuffink, what is this?" she asked, holding the journal out to me.

I took the leather book from her hands and read the page.

"A king? My dad is talking about somebody who had a king. A king of dragons! Do you think it's the same king?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe. But I thought Toothless was the king of dragons?" she commented.

"Well, yes, but there is more than one. Remember the stories of when they battled Drago? There were two Bewilderbeasts then," I reminded her.

"That's true… but what good would a king of dragons be right now?" she asked, standing up.

"Maybe that's why they all came back! Something called them," I reasoned, standing up as well.

"Then we could be dealing with something crazy here," she said, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Well, whatever it is, we have a pretty great team of muttonheads with us," I said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, we do," she agreed.

"You should probably go back to your hut before Mila notices your gone," I suggested.

"Actually, she knows I am over here," Ragnhild responded.

"And she isn't about to come kill me?" I asked.

"Not that I know of. She said I needed to spend some time with my fiance. We are getting married in just a couple of weeks," she reminded me.

"Hopefully… If this doesn't turn into something insane," I responded.

Ragnhild slid her arms around my chest and hugged me. "I am not moving our wedding day for any kind of "bad guy," even your brother," she assured me.

I smiled and kissed the top of her head. We made a bed out of the blankets and pillows from our saddlebags on the floor downstairs since the floor of the loft looked like it wasn't very stable.

Dawn warmed up the dragon bed and curled up on it. Blizzard stayed outside, she preferred the cold.

Ragnhild and I huddled close together for warmth as the cold of night crept into the hut. We slept soundly through the night, gaining energy for our trip to the markets the next day.


	12. Markets and Merchants

Markets and Merchants

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

I woke up to the sound of the warning horn being blown. I groaned and rolled over, my arm wrapping around Ragnhild's waist.

"I think that means it is time to get up," Ragnhild muttered.

But I was so comfortable. I nuzzled my face against Ragnhild's back.

"Five more minutes," I mumbled. Ragnhild chuckled and rolled over so that she could wrap her arms around me too.

"Goooood mooorniiing Descendants!" sounded loudly through the horn the youngers had been using as a megaphone.

I groaned loudly, recognizing the voice immediately.

"Why did we let them join the team?" I asked.

"It is a beautiful day for a flight to the Northern Markets! Wouldn't you agree, Buffnut?"

"Oh, for sure! Clear skies, hardly any wind, perfect day for a flight!"

"Because they have good qualities that are helpful," Ragnhild reminded gently, moving to get up.

My arms wrapped tighter around her waist.

"Babe, if you get up now, they win," I whispered against her shoulder. Ragnhild just laughed and got up. She blew me a kiss before she started walking back to her dad's hut to change.

"We are in luck, Descendants, because we have Buffnut on our team! Buffnut has a very special announcement! What day is it Buffnut?"

"Today is the day of the vests! We will all need to perform the sacred ritual of the vests in order to appease the vest gods! Otherwise, we will be cursed with ugly vests for ten years!"

I growled in annoyance and got up to quickly shut the door. Dawn watched curiously.

"Sorry, girl," I said, reaching up to scratch her chin.

I sighed and started getting ready for the day.

We all met in the clubhouse. I looked around the room. It was kind of falling apart. I made a mental note to fix everything up if we ended up staying here for a while.

"Okay guys, get some breakfast. Take off is in thirty minutes," I announced. Everyone nodded and went to get some of the food they brought out of their saddlebags.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

I glanced over at Ragnhild.

"Did they do this the whole time you guys were on your way here?" I asked.

She nodded, her eyes wide in annoyance. I chuckled and shook my head.

"How about now?" Buff asked. He and Eira flew up next to me.

"Guys, you will know when we get there," I promised. The two sighed before flying up above us to have their own conversation.

I glanced over my shoulder at Ozzy, gently pulling back on Dawn so I could glide next to him.

"Hey, I've been meaning to tell you, thank you for joining us. So far you have been incredibly helpful," I said sincerely.

Ozzy smiled. "Of course! I used to love and trust Brandt like a brother and then he married my sister and everything was amazing. But then he started acting weird, especially since we got to Berk. I do not want my sister to get hurt," he said, saying each word thoughtfully and clearly.

The man definitely looked like Dagur, but I got the idea he had some of his mother's qualities in him as well.

"And you know what it is like to be an uncle. From the moment I held that little boy I never wanted anything bad to happen to him. Finding out what Brandt is up to might help keep the lad out of danger," Ozzy continued.

I nodded in agreement. "It's crazy, isn't it? How one person can change your life forever? My nephew, Hagen, definitely changed my life. And that goddess up there is the best thing to ever happen to me," I commented, smiling as I watched Ragnhild flying on Blizz. Her eyes were shut and she had the most beautiful smile on her face, enjoying the feel of the wind that was sweeping over her.

Ozzy turned to see who I was looking at. He smiled. "You know, she is the one who got all of us to come after you," he said.

"That sounds like her," I replied.

"Land ho! Woohoo!" Eira shouted from above us.

I nodded to Ozzy, making a mental note to get to know him better, before flying back up ahead as the Northern Markets came into view.

"Okay, team!" I shouted, pulling Dawn to a stop in front of them. They all stopped, waiting for my instructions.

"Now, there will be people here who do not like dragons and we do not want those people to know some have returned. We need to land in the woods behind the markets and the dragons will have to wait there," I told them. They nodded in reply and then we steered our dragons towards the forests that covered one side of the island.

We landed less than ten minutes later.

"Dawn, you'll need to keep an eye on these other guys," I said, nodding towards the others' dragons.

Dawn cooed in response and nuzzled against me.

I smiled and scratched her chin before turning around and joining the rest of the group. We all had our "partners" for the day. The youngers would take over the north side of the markets, while Ozzy and Mila took the south. Finally, Ragnhild and I were planning on talking to the merchants in the middle. I had the original letter and seal while the other two teams had sketches of the seal that Ragnhild and Eira had drawn. Zephyr was definitely the best artist out of all of us, but she obviously wasn't available at the moment.

"Okay, team. We will meet back up here at sundown! Let's head out," I said.

I frowned as I watched Eira slide her hand into Buffnut's.

"Do they have to be so public with their affection?" I asked, turning to Ragnhild.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at me as she slowly lifted her hand, which was woven with mine. I smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, but we are betrothed!" I protested.

She shook her head and let go of my hand. "Well, if you don't want them to be displaying any kind of affection…" she said nonchalantly and started walking towards the market.

I sighed and stepped double-time to catch up.

"Okay, okay," I said, sheepishly lacing my fingers back together with hers. She smirked and let me.

The market was insane. My guess is it has grown a lot since my parents' Dragon Riders were last here.

"Stay close, Raggy. It would be really easy to get separated here," I commented. She squeezed my hand tighter.

We walked up to the first stand.

"Um, excuse me, sir, would you possibly know who's seal this is?" I asked, holding out the letter.

The merchant, a young man selling chicken feed, shook his head. "Can't say that I do, lad. Sorry about that," he replied.

I smiled at him. "No worries. Thanks for your time."

I sighed and Raggy and I walked to the next stands, getting similar responses. Around three in the afternoon, after a full day of asking about the seal, we all met back up at the edge of the market.

"Any luck?" Ozzy asked.

I shook my head. Eira sighed, "Nope."

"We'll figure it out. Maybe somebody on Outcast knows?" Mila suggested. I shrugged my shoulders. Going to Outcast Island was always dangerous, so I wanted to make that our final option.

"Excuse me, kids."

We all looked up and saw an older man sitting at a weapons hut.

"Might I see that seal you are speaking of?" he asked.

I silently held it out to him. He slowly ran his thumb over it and nodded thoughtfully.

"I would know this seal anywhere," he muttered.

"Really? Whose is it?" I asked.

"Well, it does not belong to just one man. It belongs to a whole group. That is a dragon hunter seal, and an old one too. That was the seal of the Grimborn Brothers' group of hunters," he explained, handing the letter back to me.

"Grimborn? Can you tell us anything about them?" Mila asked.

"Aye. I can tell you anything you want to know actually. It pains me to admit this, but I used to be their main weapons supplier," the merchant said.

I glanced at Ragnhild and smiled. How had we gotten so lucky?

"You were a supplier? Can you tell us about the Grimborn brothers? Did they have families? Specifically any kids? Even more specifically, any sons?" Eira asked enthusiastically.

The old merchant chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Aye, lass. I was their supplier. Viggo and Ryker Grimborn were their names. Ryker was the brawn and Viggo was the brain. They were always after a group of kids who rode on the backs of dragons. I am not sure if they had any family, but I can tell you where their last known hideout was," he said, glancing around nervously as if he was worried somebody would hear him.

"That would be very much appreciated. Thank you," Ragnhild said.

"Of course, lass. I have a map to their hideout hidden by the waterfall on the island just west of here. That's where I live. The island their hideout was on was called…"

Suddenly there was a faint wooshing sound and the man stopped and started choking. I looked on in dismay as I noticed a small dart had been shot into the merchant's neck.

The merchant fell to the ground and I pulled the dart out, hoping to help him. A dark green liquid was dripping from the dart.

"Go! Get out of here! They must have heard me. Go before they get you too!" the merchant said weakly before exhaling one last time, his head dropping to the side as the life left his eyes.

"Oh Thor," I whispered. Ragnhild grabbed my shoulders.

"Nuffink we have to go now!" Ragnhild said, pulling me up. We all broke into a run towards our dragons. When we reached them we quickly mounted and launched into the sky, heading west towards the island the merchant had spoken of. The dart was cold in my hand. A hunter's dart. My father had a few of these in a trunk in his office where he kept little things from his Dragon Rider days.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked, turning to look at my team. They all nodded silently. Eira numbly stood on Dusk's back and stepped over to Nosey's back, huddling into Buff's arms. Ozzy was flying in the back, glancing over his shoulder periodically to make sure we weren't being followed.

I sighed and faced forward again, seeing the island on the horizon.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" I muttered.


	13. Truth and Lies

Truth and Lies

_*Hiccup's Point of View*_

"It has been a week. A whole week, Hiccup! Where are our kids?" Fishlegs asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure. We are still working on that, okay? I am worried too," I replied, sitting down heavily in my chair at New Berk's council table. My hand moved to rub my neck out of habit. Everyone was in the Great Hall, the council's table set up at the front.

"I still think Zephyr has to know where they are," Heather commented.

My wife reached over and grasped my hand in hers. We hadn't been able to get Zephyr to talk.

"Ozzy is out there too! I just don't know why he'd leave with them. He just got here!" Dagur said, his voice sounded hurt.

"Hey, guys, we are the Dragon Riders! Those kids aren't helpless out there. They are _our_ kids after all. Plus they have their dragons. We can send another search party tomorrow," I reminded them.

"Hiccup, no offense, but we have sent search parties every day since they left and we haven't seen any sign of them. And sure, they have dragons, but they are not as trained as we were when we went out on our own," Snotlout said. He didn't have any children of his own out there, but they were still his best friends' kids. He was worried too.

"I wouldn't worry too much. They are older than we were when we left. Well, all but Eira and Buffnut. But the others are a good three or more years older than we were. They are mature and know how to handle themselves. I know they are fine," Astrid said reassuringly. I glanced over at her appreciatively. She smiled and squeezed my hand.

There was a knock on the large wooden doors that had been locked for our meeting. The sound echoed through the vast room.

Eret jumped up and went to see who it was.

"Ah! Brandt! What brings you here?" he asked, letting the young man walk into the room.

"I have a few things to say," he said calmly.

We all sat down and let him stand before the table.

"You may speak when you are ready," I said.

"I just wanted to ask how the search was coming along. That and I want to say that I feel that Nuffink might need this time away. He seems to not be thinking clearly, what with accusing me of having the intent to betray Berk and all. I feel that Berk might do well to have a slight break from him. He is awfully young to be chief as well. He still has a lot of maturing to do, don't you agree?" Brandt asked.

I looked down at my lap. "I thought he was ready, but from recent circumstances, it appears you might be correct," I sighed. Nuffink didn't seem to be able to handle much pressure, and being a chief meant having a lot of pressure on you at all times.

"Okay, I agree with Brandt. We can let them all take some time. We will let them come back on their own time," I decided.

"Hiccup, I don't know, brother," Dagur started.

I held my hand up. "It's my decision," I responded.

Dagur frowned and stood up. "Last I checked we were both chiefs of this tribe," he said, anger hinting in his voice.

"We are, but this is a decision about the next chief of Berk. And that is going to be my son," I replied.

"What if Ozzy took over for me and Nuffink took over for you? This is still just as much my decision as it is yours!" Dagur said a little louder, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Dagur, brother, we don't even know your son. How do we know we can trust him?" I asked.

I immediately regretted what I said when I saw the hurt look on Dagur's face.

"Okay," he said, "So you get to trust your long lost son, who you have only known for a couple of weeks and only knew for less than an hour before you had to send him away, but we don't get to trust my son, who you have also only known for a few weeks, but I knew until he was four. I see how this works," he said angrily before grabbing his cloak and storming out of the building.

"Dagur, I didn't mean it like that!" I shouted behind him, but the door was already closing behind him.

"Damn it," I muttered. I felt Astrid's hand on my back and I turned to look at her.

"Everyone is dismissed. Go home," I said, waving my hand in the air in defeat.

Everyone was silent as they left.

"Mom, dad."

I looked up at my son. "Yes, son?" I asked.

"You are both exhausted. Why don't you take a break? I can handle things around here tomorrow if you want," he started.

"Brandt, son, I love you. I do. You're my son. But I can't let you take over as chief, even if it is only for a day," I said before he could get any further.

"I am just trying to help you," Brandt retorted defensively.

"I know, but it is just not something that can happen," Astrid said as gently as she could.

"I don't understand why you can't just trust me with this! It isn't that hard to just let me take over. You need a break!" Brandt pushed.

"No! Brandt, it isn't going to happen. I'm sorry. Nuffink is still my heir whether he needs some time or not. You cannot step up to the throne of Berk, no matter how much you want to," I responded firmly, standing to look him in the eye.

That's when I saw something in him that I hadn't seen before.

His eyes had a glint in them that I couldn't place. A smirk came across his face.

"Well, can't say I didn't try," he hissed before turning and walking out of the building.

When he was gone I turned around and looked at Astrid. She shrugged and shook her head.

Neither of us had seen him act like that before.

* * *

_*Eira's Point of View _

Okay, I know I am a viking, but I have never seen anyone actually die before. That was freaky.

I mean, one second the nice old man was there and the next he was on the ground DEAD! What in Thor's name…

And then Nuffink told us that the dart belonged to DRAGON HUNTERS! Frickin dragon hunters! I didn't know they were still around. Or maybe they were former dragon hunters and were just coming back to work for whoever Brandt was talking about. I don't know. Just thoughts.

After flying for a good half hour we finally saw the island the merchant had told us about. It was small. Not much was on it except for some trees and what looked like a little hut. It wasn't long before we were ready to land.

I pulled myself out of Buffnut's arms. He had been comforting me after that freak show back at the markets. I stepped back onto Dusk and we landed. Dusk stayed close by me as we walked toward the hut. It was actually a little bigger than it had seemed when we were flying in. There was a full forge on the back and there were weapon racks everywhere.

"Oh cool! Babe, check this out!" Buffnut said.

I turned and saw him holding a mace, but it was at least three times the normal size and had five times as many spikes. I laughed and started digging through the weapons. I found a spear that had spikes going all the way down the shaft all the way to the handle.

"Ha! Look at this one!" I said, turning to show my boyfriend. But when I turned around he was gone.

Then all of a sudden… "I challenge you to a duel!"

I turned around and saw my boyfriend. He was wearing armor that was much too big for him. The helmet covered his face and the chest plate was almost to his knees. The shinguards kept him from being able to walk easily. In his hands were the mace and an insanely long and heavy-looking sword. It had to be at least five feet long.

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Who fights with this stuff… giants?" Buff laughed.

I continued to laugh so hard at my boyfriend's antics I had to sit down.

"I don't know, but definitely not somebody your size, Buff," I said between laughs and gasps for air.

He grinned at me and started taking the armor off.

"Nuff we will have to remember where this is. Look at all this Gronckle iron!" I said to my brother, holding up a couple of Gronckle iron shields.

He turned and smiled. "For sure. This stash could be a great resource for us. We will have to find a way to make sure nobody finds it before we can come back with a ship," he commented.

I smiled, happy he actually agreed with me for once, and ran over to the rest of the team. Buffnut tried to follow, but still had the shinguards on and fell on his face.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked, brushing the stay strands of blonde hair out of my face.

"Well, I can hear the waterfall. It's this way," Ozzy said, pointing towards the treeline.

He had pulled his red hair back into a bun. Not many people can pull that look off but he can.

Nuffink nodded. "Lead the way, brother," he said.

Weird. That's what Dad calls Uncle Dagur. I didn't realize Ozzy and Nuffink were becoming friends. I liked it though. It was cute.

Ozzy smiled at my brother and we all started following him towards the waterfall. The forest was thick. Everyone had mounted their dragons so we could let them push the shrubs out of the way. Mila had gone up ahead with her Changewing, Phantom, and was spraying acid at anything that was too big to push out of the way. Ozzy was having a hard time getting his dragon to keep its heads together. He had a Zippleback, Dagdrom and Mareritt, and they kept getting stuck with trees between their heads. Zipplebacks were good dragons when it came to combat, but they weren't the brightest. Ozzy rode on Dagdrom, which meant Nightmare. It was fitting for that head. He said that his sister was Mareritt's, which meant Daydream, rider.

Nosey was getting distracted by every new smell that crossed his path. It was quite humorous watching Buff try to redirect him.

The sound of the waterfall grew louder and louder until we finally saw it. It was large. I'm not sure how we hadn't seen it flying in. Maybe because of the heavy tree cover? I don't know. The water was clear and shimmered in the sunlight. The lake at the bottom looked like glass and had beautiful plants growing around it.

"Where do you think the map is?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. Split up, team! The merchant said it was behind some rocks," Nuffink instructed.

"Leave no stone unturned!" Buff shouted, immediately laughing at his joke. I rolled my eyes but chuckled just the same.

We all split up and looked around, behind every rock, under every stone, pushed aside every boulder.

"All I have found so far is a bunch of bugs," I grumbled.

"Same here, babe," Buffnut said. I grinned and stepped closer to him.

"There are other things we could do…" I said, kissing his cheek.

Buff smiled and turned his head to kiss me.

His lips were chapped, but I couldn't care less. My hands slid up to the back of his neck, trailing my fingers in circles at the nape.

"For Thor's sake, guys! Knock it off!" Mila shouted, throwing a stick at us.

"Throw something else at me! I dare you!" I shouted, breaking away from Buffnut.

"Eira, Buff, just keep looking for the map," Nuffink sighed, running his hand down his face.

"I've got it!" Ragnhild shouted.

Yes! We all ran over to her. She had found it hidden in a rock that had been hollowed out behind the waterfall. She had opened the map and had spread it over the rock.

"Look at this thing. It must be extremely old. The paper is yellow and quite brittle," Ozzy observed.

"There," Mila said, pointing to a circled island.

"That's where we need to go," Nuffink said.

"But where is there?" I asked.

"Nuff, do you think your dad might have some old maps back at the Edge?" Ragnhild asked.

"Only one way to find out," Nuffink said, rolling the map up. He tucked it safely in Dawn's saddlebag and we all started making our way back to the hut.

"Hey, Nuffink, so there could be a bunch of hunters on this island, right?" I asked.

"Yes, why?" my brother asked, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

"So we should be able to defend ourselves, yes?" I continued.

Nuffink sighed. "FIne! We can take some of the weapons. One each!" he said, quickly adding the limit.

Buff and I hurriedly ran to the racks and looked through the weapons. They were expertly crafted; very impressive work. I dug around until I found a belt with several daggers hooked into it.

"Perfect!" I muttered, hooking it around my waist. My aim was impeccable, just like my mom's.

"Eira, I said one!" Nuffink said.

"The belt is my weapon! These were just attached to it!" I said quickly.

Nuffink shook his head at me, but I guess he decided to let it slide.

"I've got mine!" Buffnut shouted, holding up a large mace. He is so adorable.

Nuffink slung a bow and a quiver of Gronckle iron-tipped arrows across his back. Mila added another ax to her ever-growing collection. Ozzy picked a crooked sword. It could definitely tear some people up if the need came up. And finally, Ragnhild picked up a long leather whip.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked.

Ragnhild smiled and turned to Nuffink, who wasn't paying attention. He was looking at a sword. She raised the whip and with a simple flick of her wrist she had wrapped the end around the sword and had pulled it from my brother's grasp and onto the ground. All this happened in a matter of seconds.

My jaw dropped. So did Nuffink's. How come I didn't know my future sister-in-law was such a badass? That was crazy!

I looked around at my team. We were ready for whatever came at us next.


	14. The King

The King

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

We were not prepared for anything that was coming at us next.

Once everyone had finished up at the weapon merchant's hut, we had set off toward the Viking Hunter's hideout. The map was pretty easy to follow. It was clearly marked and had obvious landmarks. I was glad to have it.

As we got closer to the location that was circled on the map, I saw smoke in the distance.

"Do you guys see that too?" I asked, turning around to see the others.

"Yeah, what is it?" Ragnhild asked, squinting her eyes to try to see the smoke better.

I shrugged my shoulders as the others all muttered behind me.

Soon we could see the island. It didn't look like it did on the map. On the map, the island looked flat and desolate, but it actually had a tall mountain covered with greenery and smoke was coming out of the top. Probably a volcano. But we could see the huts along the shoreline and there were several people walking around between the buildings.

"Let's land behind that building there. Stay quiet. We are just here to get information and get out," I instructed.

Buff and Eira dove down toward the landing spot I had pointed out.

"Hey, I said this is a stealth mission!" I yelled after them.

I groaned and looked over at Ragnhild.

She just smiled and shrugged. "They always start out as stealth, but with those two, do you really think these missions will end as stealth missions?" she laughed.

I smiled. "I guess you're right," I sighed.

Mila and Ozzy flew down to the island and landed smoothly and quietly… well, Mila landed quietly. Ozzy landed as quietly as he could while flying only one head on a Zippleback.

Once we had all landed, we regrouped.

The plan was for us all to split up in teams of two. Each team would take one of the camouflage dragons just in case. We were going to be looking for anything that could possibly connect Brandt with this, anything that had to do with whatever this "king" was, and anything that could give us clues to who the leader was.

Ragnhild and I left with Dawn. We headed towards the middle where there was a large building, probably where the leader liked to stay. We crept past the buildings, sneaking down alleys and hiding behind barrels of mead. There were definitely some places that were too narrow for Dawn to fit through so she would fly above us and land when she could.

We slowly started getting closer. Ragnhild walked behind me.

"Nuffink!" she hissed and grabbed my arm, pulling me back just as some hunters walked by.

"That was too close," I whispered. I glanced over at Dawn. All I could see were her big blue eyes, the rest of her body was camouflaged. She stepped forward and nuzzled my hand, growling worriedly.

"It's okay, girl. We are almost there," I whispered.

Ragnhild slid her hand into mine, her other hand hovering over the leather whip at her hip, ready to jump into action if the need came up. As we got closer to the fortress I pulled my bow off and notched a Groncklw iron tipped arrow against the string. The guards and hunters grew in number as we got closer to the door.

We stopped and crouched behind some barrels of mead by the door. There were about 30 guards standing in front. Their swords were a sickly green color. If I remember right, I think those had been dipped in dragon root. My dad had told me of the dangers of that stuff when he told me stories of his time at the Edge.

"Okay, how are we getting past them? We can't fight them. There are too many of them and it would draw too much attention to ourselves," Ragnhild whispered.

I glanced back at my dragon. "I have an idea," I whispered.

I motioned to Dawn and she wrapped her wings around us. We were shielded but were still able to walk.

"Just watch out, Dawn. Don't run into anything," I reminded her as we started walking forward.

We somehow managed to get past the guards and into the open doors. Thankfully they were big enough for a dragon.

However, once inside, there was definitely no room for dragons. I motioned for Dawn to wait outside.

Ragnhild uncoiled her whip and held it in her hands while I had another arrow ready to fly at any moment. We walked quietly down the dark hall. There were rooms on either side, most full of drunk dragon hunters. But then there was one on the end. The only light came from a dying fire in the hearth.

I poked my head inside and saw that nobody was there. I picked my hand up and motioned for Ragnhild to follow. We walked into the room. There was a large metal table in the middle with papers scattered all across it.

I picked up one of the sheets and started reading it. It was a letter.

"Oh Thor, Ragnhild, look," I said, shoving a paper into her hands.

"Addressed to Brandt?" she whispered incredulously.

"I know! Read it," I told her.

"Brandt, I am glad to hear your mission is going well. We will finally be able to avenge my brother, your father! We have been patiently waiting and now the King has finally grown enough that we should be able to attack in the next week or so. By the time you get this letter, we will be ready to attack within a few days. Be ready.

I am going to include a sketch of the King so you will be able to prepare accordingly. You know the commands he understands, so you will be able to control him. Use that power wisely, dear nephew.

I can not wait to bring that hiccup of a chief down to his knees! Let's see how powerful the great "Dragon Master" is against our King!"

Hail the King,

Uncle Ryker."

We were both silent as Ragnhild finished the last word.

"Who is Ryker?" she whispered.

"Not sure, but I bet my parents know," I replied.

"Do you see the sketch he was talking about anywhere?" Raggy asked.

I slid papers aside on the table and finally came to a charcoal sketch at the bottom of the pile.

"This can't be it. That's just the volcano that's outside," I said. Then I looked more closely at the mountain in the sketch. There were lines making it look like a coil, smoke coming from the top, and a very faint outline of what could possibly be wings at the sides.

"Oh Thor, Nuffink, the volcano… it's..." Ragnhild muttered.

"A dragon," I finished softly.

"Well done, young Haddock."

My head shot up. In the doorway, there was a large man. He was bald but had a mustache and a small patch of hair on his chin. His arms were defined with muscles, tattoos over almost every inch.

"Who are you? How do you know who I am?" I asked.

"Ryker Grimborn. Nice to finally meet you! I knew your parents. You look just like them," he said casually.

I glanced at Ragnhild then quickly brought my eyes back to the man in front of us.

She seemed to get the message and started walking to the side.

"You knew my parents? How?" I asked, keeping his focus on me.

"Well let's just say your father and I were, well, we were buddies. We enjoyed tormenting each other," Ryker said. He grinned and I felt sick. There was so much evil behind the smile.

"You said you are my brother's uncle, how?" I asked.

"Well, I am sure your parents told you how Brandt came to be. Your mother was in contract to be married to my brother, Viggo. But instead of just going along with the marriage, your parents decided to go ahead and try for a child to break the contract. That is how Brandt came to be. Once he was born my brother went and tried to take him from Dragon's Edge, but your clever father had already sent the babe away to a different family. They didn't think we could find him, but we did. He was maybe three or four winters when we found him. I killed his adoptive parents and my brother and I took him in. That is how your brother came to know my brother as his father. We brought Brandt up together and now he is helping me get revenge for my brother's death," Ryker continued talking, but I focused on Ragnhild.

She was almost behind him now. She raised her whip and with a flick of her wrist, it was wrapped around his legs. She pulled and he fell to the ground with a shout. He hit his head on the table and was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

I grinned at my fiance and wrapped her up in a big hug.

"I love you! That was incredible!" I said, giving her a quick kiss.

She laughed. "I'm glad you think so, but let's get out of here!" she said. I grabbed the letter and the sketch and shoved them in my pocket.

We raced out of the room.

"We have to get to Berk!" I said as we ran towards the door.


	15. Warnings and Attacks

Warnings and Attacks

"Don't let them get away! They'll warn Berk!" We heard Ryker yell furiously as he came to, causing Ragnhild and I to run even faster.

We were forced to stop suddenly when there were five hunters in the doorway that was our escape route.

I drew back an arrow and aimed it at them. Ragnhild readied her whip.

"You think that a little arrow and a whip will be enough to get past us?" The guard in the center asked with a laugh.

"No," I responded casually, "but a dragon might help."

The guards all looked confused then I shouted, "Dawn!"

Suddenly the guards were all on the floor, pushed down by some invisible force. I laughed when Dawn appeared right in front of me, panting with her tongue hanging out of her mouth and her tail wagging like a happy dog's.

"That's my good girl! Let's go!" I said as I climbed onto her back. I reached down and pulled Ragnhild up behind me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and then Dawn ran out of the building, trampling a few more hunters while she was at it. She shot a plasma blast into the sky, signaling the others, wherever they were, it was time to go.

"Stop them!"

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ryker charging at us.

I leaned forward and Dawn shot into the sky. My eyes wandered to the sleeping volcano. I could see it now, the scales, the soft movement of breathing, subtle shifts as the beast moved in its sleep. If Berk was warned ahead of time, we might have a chance. But if we couldn't reach them before… Berk would fall.

We didn't stop until we were at the rendezvous point on the other side of the island. Dawn stumbled as she landed because of the speed we had been flying at and Ragnhild and I landed in the dirt. Dawn walked over and nuzzled us to make sure we were okay.

"We're fine, girl. You were great back there!" I said, taking her face in my hands and smiling at her. She grinned a toothless smile and bounded towards the dragons that had been left behind. She rubbed against Blizzard, who I could swear rolled her eyes at the enthusiastic NightLight. Dagdrom and Mareritt looked up from where they had been napping, but when they saw it was us and not their rider, they went back to sleep. Nosey was sniffing all over Dawn, causing Dawn to bat at him with her foot.

"Incoming!"

We looked up and saw Buff and Eira coming in for a landing on Dusk. They crash-landed right in front of me. Buffnut was tossed off and landed at my fight. He looked up at me sheepishly. I shook my head but smiled anyway as the younger teammate got up to go say hello to his dragon.

"Did you guys find anything?" Eira asked.

"The mountain isn't a mountain. It's some kind of dragon. That's the king. We have to warn Berk. Have you seen Ozzy and my sister?" Ragnhild replied.

"Not since we left, but there is no way they missed that plasma blast," Eira answered.

Ragnhild sighed and scanned the sky, looking for any sign of the others.

"Don't worry, they'll be here," I reassured her.

No sooner had the words left my mouth then we saw Phantom flying towards us with our teammates on his back.

"See? Told ya," I teased, elbowing Ragnhild's side. Phantom soon landed safely with Mila and Ozzy.

"Did you guys find anything?" Ozzy asked.

"I'll explain on the way. We have to get to Berk," I responded, whistling for Dawn. She bounded over and lowered her wing so I could climb on. Everyone else mounted their dragons and we took off.

We had to be fast.

Berk was about two hours flight from where we were. I caught everyone else up on the new discoveries.

"Wait, that mountain was a dragon?" Ozzy asked incredulously.

I nodded. "It must not have left with the other dragons all those years ago. It sounded like it had been there a while from what Ryker had said," I replied.

"And Brandt was adopted by Viggo Grimborn?" Mila asked.

Ragnhild nodded in response.

We were all silent for the rest of the flight. I was relieved when we finally got sight of Berk. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a small puff of smoke on the horizon.

"You don't think that's the dragon… do you?" Eira asked.

I frowned. "I think it is. We have to find dad and Uncle Dagur," I said with urgency.

It was another fifteen minutes before we landed. As soon as Dawn touched ground I jumped off and ran for the center of town.

"Buffnut, Eira, you two go sound the alarm horn. Mila, go check the catapults and ballistae," I shouted over my shoulder. Ragnhild and Ozzy were running beside me.

"I bet there is a committee meeting today. Let's try the Hall," Ragnhild shouted to be heard over our quick breathing as we ran. We finally made it to the Great Hall. We burst through the heavy wooden doors. Ragnhild had been right, all our parents were there. Even Brandt and Mila were there with Arlo. My eyes scanned the surprised faces and I saw my sister. In those few seconds of eye contact, we said all we needed to say. We had both been idiots and were both very sorry. I sent a soft smile her way and she returned it.

"Ahem…."

My dad cleared his throat and we all looked at our chief.

"Hi Dad," I said quietly.

"Nuffink," he responded curtly.

"Where have you been, baby?" my mom asked as she got up to hug me. I sighed and wrapped my arms around her.

"We were at Dragon's Edge," Ragnhild said. My dad's eyebrows nearly raised off his face.

"What were you guys doing at Dragon's Edge?" Uncle Fishlegs asked.

"We were looking for a way to convince you that he is hiding something," I said, pointing at Brandt.

Brandt laughed and shook his head. "I have no idea what you are talking about, young brother. I am not hiding anything! I just want a relationship with my parents," he replied.

I glared at him. "Don't you ever call me brother ever again," I said, balling my hands into fists.

Ragnhild placed her hand on my shoulder.

"We found a letter addressed to Brandt. We met your Uncle Ryker and we have seen your King, Brandt," Ragnhild said. I took the letter and the sketch out of my pocket and handed it to my parents. Uncle Fishlegs examined the sketch.

"That is definitely a class ten…" he muttered.

I kept my eyes on my dad as he read the letter.

"I do not understand," he said, putting the letter down and turning to Brandt.

Uncle Dagur got the letter next he read it then glared at his son-in-law.

"What does it say?" Brandt asked.

"How did you end up with Ryker? We sent you to a safe home," my dad said.

"Viggo found him and killed the parents you sent him too. He took Brandt and raised him. Now they blame you for Viggo's death for some reason and are out for revenge," Ozzy explained from what I had told him on the flight here.

"Brandt, please explain this. Is all this true?" Marina asked her husband, holding their child protectively.

Brandt sighed. "It's all true," he replied.

"Oh Thor…" my mom muttered.

Brandt stepped up to me and glared at me. "Everything was going well until you just had to get in the way. But you will fall. Just like everyone else on this damned island!" he shouted.

Then we heard the alarm horn long and low. I smiled. Buff and Eira were doing their job.

And then the ground started shaking.

"What the hell?" Uncle Snotlout shouted as he fell off his chair.

Brandt just laughed. "That would be my King!" he shouted as he ran outside.

We all followed him and froze when we saw it.

The water at the beach was parting and a dragon head at least three times taller than the Great Hall slid out of the waves and onto the sand. The body started following as the snake-like dragon slithered along the ground, crushing ships as more of it slid from the water.

"Thor help us," Ragnhild muttered next to us.

Berkians were screaming and running as the dragon moved between and through houses and shops. It was destroying everything in its path.

The beast slithered right up to Brandt after it had destroyed many of the buildings on Berk. Brandt laughed with a venomous tone and held his hand out to the creature. He moved his mouth to whistle but before he could make a sound I yelled to get his attention and aimed an arrow at his head.

"Call it off. Tell it to leave or I will release this arrow and you will die," I said as intimidatingly as I could.

"You can't possibly hit me from there," Brandt said. I was still in the doorway of the Hall and he was more than a hundred yards away now. He had walked out to meet the dragon.

"I don't miss," I assured him.

"Fine!" he said and turned back to the dragon. He whistled once in a low tone and then again at a much higher pitch.

The dragon's eyes narrowed and it raised it's head to look over Berk. It opened its mouth and spewed fire at the houses around it.

"I said call it off!" I shouted.

I released the arrow, but before it could hit its mark, the beast incinerated it.

Brandt just laughed.

"Now I will finally avenge my father's death! I will rule Berk. But with this King of all beasts, I will be able to take over as many villages and kingdoms as I want!" he shouted in victory.

"No! Brandt, you have to stop!" Marina shouted. Arlo was crying.

Brandt paused for a moment and looked at his wife and child.

"Brandt, you can stop. It isn't too late. Do it for your wife and baby," my dad said, taking a few cautious steps toward him.

"Don't come any closer!" Brandt shouted. He whistled and the king slithered up behind him, ready to strike at Brandt's command.

Hiccup raised his hands up in submission but continued taking slow steps.

"Brandt, my son, I know you are better than this," he said softly.

"I am not your son! Just because you brought me into existence does not mean you are my father!" Brandt responded, his face contorted in anger and hatred.

"Okay, I understand that, but think of your family, Brandt," my father continued.

Brandt was not listening. He raised his hand and whistled.

"Dad, look out!" I shouted, running for my father. But I wasn't fast enough.

The beast rammed into my dad. He didn't bite or shoot flames at him, but it was strong enough to send my father flying back a hundred feet. He landed with a loud thud and did not move.

"Hiccup!" my mother screamed and ran to him, dropping down next to him. She lifted his head into her lap and sobbed.

"Dad!" I shouted and ran after her. I heard Zephyr racing behind me.

"No no no no no…" I said as I knelt beside him. I wove my hands into the fur of his cloak.

"Dad?" I whispered, tears streaming down my face.

Brandt turned away and began directing the dragon to destroy a different part of Berk.

"Oh my Thor what happened?" Eira shouted as she and Buffnut ran into the scene. She saw our father and froze.

My mother pressed her forehead against my dad's and sobbed. Zephyr rested her hands on dad's cloak next to mine. Eira knelt beside me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

My mom looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

"You have to stop him, Nuffink. Please," she pleaded, tears still dripping off her chin.

I wiped my eyes and stood to my feet. I turned to face a burning Berk.

Brandt was not going to get away with this.

He was going to pay.


	16. New Chiefs and Old Chiefs

New Chiefs and Old Chiefs

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

Berk was burning, a mountain-sized dragon was slithering through houses and buildings, and my evil long lost brother had killed my father. I turned back and looked at my family. They were all crying. Zephyr was holding Eira and my mother had her head against my father's chest. The once comforting rise and fall of his breathing had stopped.

I did not have time to mourn. I could do that later. Right now I had to stop Brandt from destroying the village my father had loved and had worked so hard to keep safe. It was my village now and I was going to do everything I could to protect it.

"Nuffink?"

I turned and saw Ragnhild, her gentle eyes looking into mine.

I looked away. If I looked at her too long, I know I would break. That could not happen right now. Right now Berk needed me.

"What's the plan, boss?"

I looked up and saw Buffnut had asked the question.

"Um…" I turned and looked at the chaos on Berk. The people were terrified. My people.

"Let me get to Brandt. I will try to get him to call off the beast. You guys take your dragons and distract it, try to lead it outside of town. Buff, Eira, I need you guys to be as annoying as possible. Make him mad!" I said as I signaled for Dawn to come over.

As I was about to mount up to go find Brandt, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned and saw Zephyr standing there.

"Be careful. I will go with the others," she said.

I gave her a soft smile. "Thanks, sis," I said sincerely.

"Of course, now go," she said, pushing my shoulder so I would step back up to Dawn.

"Okay, girl. You ready for this?" I asked as I sat securely in the saddle. The saddle my father had made for me.

Dawn cooed excitedly and I smiled.

"Let's go."

* * *

_*Zephyr's Point of View*_

I did not want to think about my father. Right now my family needed me and Berk needed all of us. Eclipse was excited to be back with her siblings and to be able to be part of all the action. We flew to where the rest of the team was flying around the head of the King.

Buffnut and Eira were shouting insults at the dragon and the others were shooting fire at it whenever it started going back towards the village. We wanted to get it as far away from them as possible.

"Good job, guys!" I shouted as Eclipse and I flew alongside the snake-like dragon, shooting at it whenever it started turning around.

Every time we shot it, it would simply look annoyed but would keep going in the direction we wanted it too.

"Hey, you think he can breathe fire? I bet he can't! Poor dragon. Can't breathe fire! Lame!" Buffnut shouted. The dragon looked at Buff as if it understood what he was saying. It opened its mouth, revealing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"Buffnut, get out of there!" I shouted as the dragon spewed a stream of fire from its mouth.

"Woah! Did you see that, babe? I almost got roasted!" Buffnut shouted to Eira as he narrowly missed the fire.

So it can breathe fire. The king had wings as well. I was not about to make it fly though. We continued steering it away from Berk but it suddenly stopped and closed its eyes.

"What is it doing?" Mila shouted, looking over at the rest of us nervously. We all tightened our grips on our weapons and our dragons were ready to fire at any moment.

The king stayed still, almost like he was listening to something. When it finally opened its eyes they were completely black. It growled and bared its teeth at us. The next thing we knew, fire was dripping from its open mouth like saliva dripping from the mouth of a dog.

"What in Odin's name…" I muttered.

The fire was like liquid, pooling in the grass beneath the dragon. As soon as the fire on the ground touched the rest of its skin, all hell broke loose. The dragon roared ear piercingly loudly and its snake body started lighting on fire.

"Oh, Thor!" Buffnut shouted. The dragon lunged at us and we all turned and flew away from it. It was quick and stayed close behind us though.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that when it caught itself on fire, its scales peeled back like little doors, releasing some kind of goo to keep the fire lit. What would happen if we got water under the scales?

"Guys go towards the waterfall!" I shouted to be heard over the roaring of the dragon chasing us.

They didn't question it and we all turned in the direction of Berk's massive waterfall.

It was within sight, but our dragons were getting tired.

"Come on, Eclipse, we're almost there," I encouraged her as I leaned forward to urge her on.

We all splashed through the falls and landed in the cave behind it.

The roaring stopped.

"Zephyr, why are we…" I held my hand up to my sister to tell her to be quiet.

The light from the dragon's fire that had been shining through the water was put out, but there wasn't any steam like it had gotten into the water. We all backed up against the back wall of the small cave as the dragon slid its head through the water, sniffing for us.

It smelled us and opened its mouth. I shut my eyes tight, preparing for the worst.

* * *

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

"Brandt!" I shouted as I walked towards him.

"Hello there, Nuffink. Or should I say Chief?" Brandt asked with a smirk.

I glared at him and notched an arrow in my bow.

"Call off the dragon, Brandt," I said firmly.

"We've already done this. You and I both know you won't shoot me," he said.

I released the arrow and the edge knicked Brandt's ear.

"Gods!" Brandt shouted, holding his hand up to his ear. There was a small amount of blood on his hand when he pulled it away.

"Okay, now you know I am not afraid to kill you if I have to. So, here are my conditions for sparing your life. Call off the dragon, and leave and never return to Berk," I said.

"Nuffink, let's just talk this out. Put the bow down," Brandt said calmly.

I tightened my grip on the bow and pulled the arrow back.

"Fine! Be that way. But I can't call off the dragon," he said.

I shot another arrow, this one scraping his arm. Brandt hissed in pain and moved his hand over the cut.

"You and I both know that's a lie. Last chance Brandt," I warned as I readied another arrow.

"Fine! I'll call him off! Just lower the arrow, please. We can go find the beast and I will tell it to return to Hunter Island," he said, terrified for his life.

I slowly lowered the arrow and stepped towards him.

"Thank you," Brandt sighed in relief.

"Whatever," I said, "Let's just go."

I walked past Brandt towards the beast and the next thing I knew I was on the ground with Brandt on top of me, throwing punches faster than I could block. I lifted my leg up and kicked him hard enough to stun him. Brandt groaned and I pushed him off me and pinned him down. I held the tip of an arrow against his throat, not hard enough to cut him, but hard enough that he for sure knew it was there.

"Enough, Brandt. You can't win this. Let's go," I told him. I took my dagger from my belt and held it to his back as he stood up.

"Walk," I said firmly.

We started walking towards the forest where the beast was.

The forest where hopefully my team was safe.

* * *

*Zephyr's Point of View*

I shut my eyes tight, waiting for either the dragon's teeth to sink into me, to feel the burn of its flame, or to hear my teammates screaming. But none of that came. I cautiously opened my eyes and looked at the giant dragon. Its eyes were closed and its mouth had shut.

"Is it asleep?" Eira whispered. I motioned for her to be quiet. She stepped back and held tightly to Buffnut's hand. I held my ax firmly in my hands as I stepped closer to the beast.

Suddenly its eyes shot open and it pulled out of the cave with an annoyed hiss. With cautious steps, I followed to the entrance of the cave. The others followed behind me.

To my sheer happiness, when I looked out of the cave, there stood my brother… well brothers I guess. They were pretty beat up, Nuffink's lip and arm were bleeding and Brandt had a pretty good black eye starting to appear, but they were alive. Brandt had the dragon's attention and blew out a low and long whistle and motioned towards the sea.

The snake-like dragon slithered away and into the ocean.

"YEAH!"

I chuckled and turned around to see Eira and Buffnut bounding around excitedly. Ozzy was beaming and Mila and Ragnhild had each other in a sisterly embrace. I smiled and got onto Eclipse, gliding down to my brother.

"Nuffink! Are you okay?" I asked as I hugged him.

Nuffink didn't respond. He looked down at his feet and I saw tears in his eyes.

"Nuffink?" I asked softly. I heard the others coming up behind me. Their worry for their leader was thick in the air.

"Nuffink, my love, it is over," Ragnhild said as she stepped forward and held him in her arms.

Nuffink let a sob escape his lips as he nuzzled against Ragnhild's shoulder.

"Dad," was all he whispered.

That's when the realization hit me.

"Oh my Thor," I muttered before running back to Eclipse.

"Go!" I told her and we raced back to the village.

I needed to get to my mom.

* * *

**Hello Readers,**

**Thank you for being so patient with me when it comes to updating. Being a junior in college is a lot of work and takes up so much of my time! I hope you have enjoyed this story so far. I am almost done with it! This will be the last installment for this series of stories. Any other one-shots about some of the characters will be by request only, so send me a message if you want to see any of these guys in a one-shot! **

**Also, I have put a list of names and who everyone is in my profile for those of you who can't keep up with the characters. There are a bunch of them!**

**Sincerely,**

**EverAfterWritings**


	17. Friend, Husband, Father, Chief

Friend, Husband, Father, Chief

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

He looked so eerily peaceful, laying on the bed in the center of the boat. His eyes were closed and I wished I could see his goofy smile one more time. His arms were crossed over his chest and his sword, Inferno, was placed underneath his clasped hands.

The blunt force of the massive dragon ramming into him and then landing on the ground so hard had been too much on his body. He was gone.

All the villagers approached the bed and placed sticks around the base, whispering their final respects to the man who had led them through so much.

Toothless approached next, his eyes wide and sad. He nuzzled against his friend, hoping the man would wake up and it would all just be a joke. Toothless pressed his head to his rider's forehead before turning away and walking to the Light Fury. The Night Lights all nuzzled against their father comfortingly.

Snotlout and Willow were next. Snotlout wiped at a tear that had dared slide down his face.

"He was annoying and scrawny and a big hiccup…" Snotlout said, "but he was a good leader. And he was my friend. And he wasn't my friend just because we are cousins, he was my friend because he wanted to be. He saw the potential I had when I was younger and put me to work in ways to strengthen what I was good at. I owe a lot to this man and I am going to miss him." He laid a misshapen sword down at the foot of the bed the chief was resting on.

"I, uh, made this for you. It took me a lot longer than it would have taken you, and it is definitely not nearly as good as your work… but you always made me amazing things and I figured I owed you one," Snotlout said.

He sniffed and Willow took his hand and they walked away from the boat.

Fishlegs and Heather approached their chief. Fishlegs was openly crying.

"He was my friend when I was still a bit of an outcast. He was more of an outcast at the time, but he was still nice to me. He was my best friend, like a brother to me. My favorite memories with Hiccup are when we were on the Edge and we would stay up at all hours of the night studying the Dragon Eye or the new dragon species we were discovering. We could talk for hours about pretty much anything. He was a good man and will be remembered," he choked out.

"Hiccup, uh…" Heather started, "Hiccup believed in me when nobody else would. He believed in me even when he probably shouldn't have. I tried so many times to make things difficult for you guys, all because I was looking for a family in the wrong places. I didn't realize that I had one waiting for me on Dragon's Edge. I didn't realize it, but he knew. He always knew. I will never forget all he did for me and my brother."

Heather opened a bag she had hanging around her shoulders and pulled out the horn that she had gotten from her father all those years ago.

"Um, your dad gave this to my dad when I was born. When I showed it to you we both thought we could have been siblings. I was a little disappointed when I found out we weren't, but I learned that family doesn't need to be blood. Family can be whoever you want it to be. And I found my family with you guys. I want to thank you for that," Heather whispered as she put the horn by the bed.

The twins approached. They were both completely silent, which was unlike them. The dramatic flair and sarcastic attitudes had left momentarily as they realized the gravity of what had happened. They silently put down a golden coin. Nobody knew what it meant because the twins refused to say a word.

"Hey, laddie," Gobber said quietly, "I never thought I would have to live through your father's funeral and yours. You were the son I never had. I am going to miss seeing you around, laddie. Say hi to your old man for me, okay? And don't worry about the kids, I'll keep an eye on them," he glanced over at us with a sad smile and finished, "They will be fine." He sighed and rested his hand on the chief's chest.

"Hey there, son," Grandma Valka whispered. "I never thought I would outlive my own child. No parent should have to lay their child to rest. But I am getting older. I am guessing it won't be too long before I am able to be with you and your father in Valhalla. I will see you again. This isn't goodbye forever. Just make sure your father isn't doing anything stupid, okay? Keep an eye on each other. I love you, my son." she smiled and put a small dragon stuffie that she had made for Hiccup when he was young by the bed.

We were the only ones left. Eira, Zephyr, and I all approached dad. My sisters were crying, but I refused to cry. I needed to be strong.

Eira glared at our father's body.

"He just had to go and die…" she muttered quietly. Zephyr wrapped her arm around Eira's shoulder.

"It isn't his fault Eira. It just happened. It could not have been prevented. It was the will of the gods," she said softly.

My sisters said their goodbyes and turned away with tearful eyes.

"Hey, dad," I whispered, "I, uh, I know that I wasn't always the best student when it came to your lessons in being chief, but I will do my best to make you proud. I just wish you could be here to watch and to give me advice. I haven't even had my first day as chief yet and I already feel like I am messing up. How can I follow behind a man who was probably the best chief Berk has ever had? I won't do the title justice, but I will try. I will make you proud, dad," I wiped at the tears in my eyes. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and turned to see Ragnhild. She lifted my arm to wrap it around her and slid her arms around me comfortingly.

"I'll keep an eye on him, chief, don't worry," she said with a soft smile.

I sighed and turned around. There was only one person left - my mother.

She had a blank, emotionless expression on her face. In her hands was a necklace with a single dragon scale on it. She numbly stepped forward and reached out to hold my dad's hand.

"Hey babe," she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "You made these long ago when the dragons first left. A necklace with one of Stormfly's scales for me and one with one of Toothless's scales for you. I hope you don't mind, but I switched them. I wanted the one from Toothless to keep you close. But I want you to have Stormfly's," she said as she placed the necklace with the blue scale against his chest.

"I love you. I don't think I will ever be able to love somebody as much as I love you. We have been through everything together, survived multiple attacks on Berk and The Edge, raised three amazing kids… I don't know how I am going to do this without you…" she paused to wipe her eyes as a sob escaped her lips. When she continued her voice was tight. "You showed me that I don't have to eb the tough fearless warrior all the time, that it shows strength to be able to show weakness. We are all going to miss you here, babe, but we will make it through. Don't worry about us. Enjoy being with your father. Give him a hug for me. Don't worry about Berk, my love," she glanced back at me, "you have left it in good hands."

She pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand then gently pressed her hand to my father's cheek.

Once she was off the boat we all lined up with our flaming arrows ready. Gobber pushed the boat out into the open water, the sail looked like a large version of Toothless's red tail. We all aimed and shot our arrows, causing the kindling beneath my father's bed to set fire. Our dragons all shot at the boat as well as one last goodbye to the man who had allowed them to be friends with humans. My mother and sisters held each other close, tears streaming down their cheeks.

We all jumped when Toothless let out the most pain-filled scream we had ever heard from him. I quickly walked over to him and held my hands out to him. He rested his head in them, one hand under his chin, the other on his forehead. I pressed my forehead to his.

"I miss him too," I whispered. Toothless groaned as if he was in pain as the ship holding his best friend sank beneath the waves.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. Gothi had passed several years ago, but she had been replaced as medicine woman by a younger girl called Lori. She motioned for me to kneel down as she reached to cover her fingers in the soot from the fire that had lit our arrows. I knew what was coming next.

Lori reached her hand out and drew the symbol for chief on my forehead. "As we lay our chief to rest, a new one rises from the ashes to lead Berk into new victories," she said with a soft smile.

I took a deep breath. This was it. This was the moment that would change my life forever.

"Do you accept this incredible job as the new chief of Berk?" she asked.

I looked over at Ragnhild. She had a proud smile on her face. "I do," I replied.

"Then rise, Nuffink Stoick Haddock, as the new chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, the people of Berk," she announced so everyone could hear. Usually this would be followed by cheers and a great feast, but these circumstances were different. I silently vowed to be present when my future child becomes chief.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, expecting to see Ragnhild, but it was my mother. She raised her arms to hug me tightly. "I'm proud of you," she whispered, "and if he was here, he would be even more proud than anybody else on this island." I smiled as I pictured my dad's smiling face. He would help me. He wasn't really gone. We just couldn't see him.

When my mom released me from her embrace I held my hand out to my fiance.

"Hello, chief," she whispered.

I smiled sadly at her. "I have big boots to fill, or I guess one big boot to fill," I said, thinking of how my father only ever wore a right boot.

"And you will be amazing at it," she reassured me.

The Dragon Riders and the Descendants sat on the beach long after everyone else had left. Soon even the Dragon Riders got up and left to get some sleep before the work on rebuilding our village started in the morning. This left me and my team by ourselves on the shore. My eyes wandered over the group of strong vikings I had around me. Buff and Eira were splashing at each other in the shallow water where they were wading. Spike and Zephyr were sitting with their son, smiling as he practiced standing on his own. Mila, Ozzy, and Marina were on their backs, pointing out constellations together. Marina's son Arlo was sleeping peacefully in her arms. I made a note in my head to make sure that child didn't grow up without strong male role models in his life since his father had left, never to return. The fear of failing as chief was still very real in my mind, but I knew that with these guys backing me up, Berk would prosper.

Ragnhild leaned her head on my shoulder and I turned so I could breathe in the scent of her hair. It always relaxed me.

"Hey, we got this, new chief," Buffnut shouted from where he and Eira were wading in the water. I smiled.

"Oh, I know, Buff," I replied. My arm slid around Ragnhild's shoulders.

"We got this," I thought to myself. I slowly stood and the Descendants and I all walked back into town together, ready to face whatever life could throw at us together as a team.

* * *

**Well, guys, it has been a while. **

**Things have been crazy with the virus and having to leave school early. I decided to finish the final chapter for you guys today. An epilogue will follow. **

**That's it for our Descendants, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed reading these characters' adventures as much as I enjoyed writing them. It is a bittersweet thing to finish the final chapter of a story you have worked so hard on with characters that you created yourself. I'll miss writing about these guys. **

**But I still have an epilogue to write so there is still one more thing to come!**

**Thank you for all your support in this trilogy. You have all been the best readers!**

**Sincerely,**

**EverAfterWritings**


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

_*Nuffink's Point of View*_

It felt like so long ago now since my dad had passed on through Valhalla's gates, but it has only been five years. Five years in which everything has changed.

After only a couple of weeks of chiefing, Ragnhild and I were finally married. It was a long time coming but we made it and honestly, it was the best day of my life. Everyone was there, but my dad was missed of course. Ragnhild was beautiful. I mean, she is beautiful every day, but on our wedding day, it was special.

Then along came Asta, our first daughter. She was named for my mom. Asta means 'divine beauty' and the name fits her perfectly. And I thought my wedding day, and night for that matter, was the best day of my life. Nothing compares to watching your child be born and holding her for the first time. I never knew somebody could feel so much love for something so small. My heart was full. She's a feisty little thing, much like her aunts and grandmothers. Asta is also the most intelligent child I have met. I guess she got that from her grandfathers. She is only five years old but is already talking about wanting to be chief one day, and I know she will be amazing at it.

Then two years after Asta, Erika was born. Another daughter. Including our dragons, I was outnumbered in my own home - five women to one man. I wouldn't change it for anything though. Erika likes to slow down and see the little miracles in life. She finds beauty in everything, and when she finds something particularly beautiful, she draws a picture of it for her mother and I, even at three years old.

And finally, just a few months ago, Iona was born. Iona means "born on an island" and that is accurate. Ragnhild was still one month away from delivering our youngest and she and I were flying Dawn and Blizzard over the ocean when all of a sudden my wife was in labor and we had to land immediately. The closest land was a little island close to the Edge. Iona is a little angel, but I am remembering that is exactly how Eira was as a baby, so I know she will be a handful when she is older.

Today was a big day though. Today marks six years since my father passed and the village was doing something special.

"It looks amazing, Nuffink." I turned around to see Ragnhild walking towards me, carrying our youngest and holding Erika's hand. Asta had run up in front to see the project I had been working on for months.

"You think? Do you think he would have liked it?" I asked, bending over to pick up my middle daughter.

"I think he would have been so embarrassed," a new voice laughed. I turned and smiled at my mom.

"But I think he would be honored just the same," she reassured me.

We all stood together and looked up at the project - a large statue of my father, right next to the one of my grandfather. It captured his gentle smile perfectly. He was standing in the same way that Stoick was in the other statue. But instead of an ax, my father held Inferno in his hands. Along the base were carvings of Nightfuries and Deadly Nadders.

"Oh, hey, that's cool!"

I turned my head to see Buffnut and Eira. they had gotten married a few weeks ago. Eira smiled at me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears at seeing the statue of our father.

Zephyr approached the statue as well, Spike and their children walking with her. Ozzy and Marina and Arlo were rolling a barrel of fish that they had just caught in their boat but stopped to say hi to everyone.

Mila sat near one of the market huts behind us, sharpening her ax. She nodded in silent approval. My girls saw her and went running to their aunty Mila, their favorite aunt, much to Zephyr's dismay. But Mila was only the favorite because she let them play with her axes and swords, much to Ragnhild's dislike. The kids were always fine though. I didn't mind them getting used to handling weapons as long as somebody was watching them.

I slid my arm around my wife's waist and let Iona grasp my finger.

"Hi baby girl," I cooed, my hands moving to take her from Ragnhild's arms.

"I want to show you something," I said. I walked up to the statue.

"You see that, baby girl?" I asked softly, "that is your grandfather, my dad. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III." I felt a small hand reaching for mine and looked over to see Erika standing beside me. I knelt down so I was at her level and Asta ran over as well.

"Your grandfather was an amazing man. He is the reason we have all of our dragon friends now. Without him we would still be at war with the dragons," I told them.

"And that is your great grandfather, Stoick the Vast," my mother walked over and pointed to Stoick's statue, "he was definitely one of the bravest men I have met. Yes, these two were probably the best chiefs Berk has had." She smiled softly at me. "And someday your father will be remembered as a great chief just like them," she said.

That night there was a feast in the great hall in remembrance of my father and in celebration for how much Berk has grown in the past six years. I never thought I would enjoy being chief as much as I do. I did not think I was ready, but nothing like being thrown into the job head first to find out how ready you actually are. Chief Hiccup taught me everything he could and I have worked hard to maintain and strengthen all he worked for and all his hopes for Berk.

And who knows? Maybe someday I'll be able to stand beside my father and grandfather by the Great Hall in Berk. And maybe Asta will someday stand there as well. But there is one thing I know, the people of Berk are strong and with them, anything is possible. Berk will always stand and will overcome any challenge thrown at it. Of course, it helps even more to have our greatest allies living with us once again - our dragons. We know how to survive without them, but it is much more fun to go through life with our dragons by our sides.

* * *

**And there you have it, guys. The end of our journey with the Descendants. It has been such a joy being able to write these stories for you. And here we are, three full stories and one short story later! Keep your eyes open for more stories from me heading your way!**

**I could not have done this without all of my wonderful readers. You guys are seriously amazing! **

**Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.**

**Sincerely,**

**EverAfterWritings**


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